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No spend, no send: Treasury withholds Bay grants again

Theherald · · 1076 words · By Nomazima Nkosi
Municipal Governance Failure Socio-economic Hardship Fiscal Accountability
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theherald.co.za/politics/2026-05-07-no-spend-no-send-treasury-withho…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Name Calling / Labeling 60% confidence
Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.
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Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence
Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

9 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 8
help Insufficient Evidence 1
info
“The National Treasury has withheld more than R267m in critical grants for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific figure of R267m is mentioned in one web search result ('No spend, no send: Treasury withholds Bay grants again'). Other sources mention different figures (e.g., R591 million), meaning this specific amount is not corroborated by multiple independent sources.
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web search NEUTRAL — National Treasury has withheld hundreds of millions in critical grants for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and threatened to withdraw more.
https://www.theherald.co.za/politics/2026-05-07-no-spend-no-…
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web search NEUTRAL — South African Flag.In the 2019/20 financial year, the National Treasury withheld six conditional grants from four provinces, pending the resolution of outstanding problems, and stopped one conditional…
https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/failure-spend-budgets…
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web search NEUTRAL — This follows after National Treasury wrote to the City Manager and the mayor to inform that it has decided to withhold R591 million in conditional grant funding after a letter that raised concerns abo…
https://www.polity.org.za/article/national-treasury-withhold…
info
“The decision to withhold the grants was made in February.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim that the decision was made in February is mentioned in the snippet for 'No spend, no send: Treasury withholds Bay grants again', but not corroborated by other independent sources provided.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is one of eight metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. It is located on the shores of Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape province and comprises the city of Gqeberh…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela_Bay_Metropolita…
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web search NEUTRAL — The National Treasury has withheld more than R267m in critical grants for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, with the department warning that years of support and intervention had done nothing to he…
https://www.theherald.co.za/politics/2026-05-07-no-spend-no-…
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web search NEUTRAL — The National Treasury is withholding hundreds of millions of rand in grant funding from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.However, the municipality finalised a settlement agreement with him in Febru…
https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/treasury-is-withhold…
info
“The letter was revealed by parliament’s co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee chair Zweli Mkhize at a meeting with the city’s leadership on Thursday.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While search results mention Zweli Mkhize and the Portfolio Committee, none of the provided evidence snippets explicitly describe him revealing a Treasury letter during a meeting with city leadership on a Thursday.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is set to demand answers from the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality after allegations of bribery of councillors to skip meet…
https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/2025-07-17-portfolio-com…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs convenes for its scheduled meeting on 1 April 2026. Visit here to stay informed wi...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqmeNMKnPHQ
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web search NEUTRAL — He said the committee will request a consolidated report from the minister, the MECs and the Provincial Treasury within three months. Mkhize said the report must include updates on disciplinary action…
https://taungdailynews.com/tag/the-chairperson-of-the-portfo…
info
“Mkhize brought up a February 13 letter from Treasury deputy director-general for intergovernmental relations, Ogaleletseng Gaarakwe, notifying the municipality of their intention to stop funding due to underperformance and non-compliance.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence mentions Gaarakwe and a letter regarding the 2025 Division of Revenue Act, but does not explicitly confirm the date of February 13 or the specific details of the notification in the snippets provided.
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web search NEUTRAL — Internationally, Mandela acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela
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web search NEUTRAL — Gaarakwe wrote that the letter was a formal notification by the Treasury of its intention to stop the above allocations in terms of section 18 of the 2025 Division of Revenue Act and section 38 of the…
https://www.theherald.co.za/politics/2026-05-07-no-spend-no-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is one of eight metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. It is located on the shores of Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape Province and comprises the city of Port Elizab…
https://nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/
info
“These were for the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (R23.7m), the Urban Settlements Development Grant (R129.8m), the Energy Efficiency Demand Side Management Grant (R3.9m), and the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (R110m).”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific breakdown of grants and amounts (R23.7m, R129.8m, etc.) is not found in the provided evidence snippets. Other sources mention the names of the grants (USDG, ISUPG) but not these specific figures.
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web search NEUTRAL — The decision is in relation to significant underspending by the city of a previous tranche. The department said in a letter, dated February 5, that the two payments would be withheld related to the ur…
https://www.theherald.co.za/news/2026-02-16-bay-risks-losing…
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web search NEUTRAL — The department had four (4) grants namely, Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG), Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG), Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG) and Provinci…
https://www.tshwane.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/19.-Co…
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web search NEUTRAL — The two affected grants were the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) and the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG). At the time, the metro had spent only 41% of these grants.
https://www.msn.com/en-za/urban-infrastructure/housing-and-u…
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“The Treasury has also threatened to, but not withheld, the Public Transport Network Grant (R119.6m) and the Expanded Public Works Programme funding (R7,730,000).”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence mentions the Public Transport Network Grant in a general national context or for other municipalities, but does not confirm the specific threat to withhold R119.6m from Nelson Mandela Bay specifically.
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web search NEUTRAL — THE National Treasury's announcement that it will withdraw the Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG), worth R80 billion nationally, under the banner of "eliminating underperforming programmes", is dee…
https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/cape-argus/20251119…
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web search NEUTRAL — The stopping and reallocation process for the human settlements development grant (R550 million), the informal settlements upgrading partnership grant (R250 million) and the education infrastructure g…
https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202510/…
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web search NEUTRAL — The proposed grant stoppage by the National Treasury will have significant implications for the City of Tshwane in the context of public sector financing: Service Delivery: The stoppage could exacerba…
https://www.studocu.com/en-za/messages/question/6916241/nati…
info
“Gaarakwe wrote that the letter was a formal notification by the Treasury of its intention to stop the above allocations in terms of section 18 of the 2025 Division of Revenue Act and section 38 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The snippet 'No spend, no send: Treasury withholds Bay grants again' explicitly mentions Gaarakwe writing about section 18 of the 2025 Division of Revenue Act and section 38 of the MFMA. This is a single source.
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web search NEUTRAL — United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as a suppl…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Treasury_securit…
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web search NEUTRAL — At the center of the crisis is an unfunded 2025/26 adjustment budget, in violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act. Treasury said revenue was overstated while expenditure was understated, a mo…
https://thestar.co.za/news/2026-05-06-city-of-johannesburg-t…
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web search NEUTRAL — US Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (1996).
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:47+section:23…
info
“The city has 22 contracts dating back to 2004.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific detail that the city has 22 contracts dating back to 2004 is mentioned only in the 'No spend, no send: Treasury withholds Bay grants again' source.
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web search NEUTRAL — The National Treasury has withheld more than R267m in critical grants for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, with the department warning that years of support and intervention had done nothing to he…
https://www.theherald.co.za/politics/2026-05-07-no-spend-no-…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is one of eight metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. It is located on the shores of Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape Province and comprises the city of Port Elizab…
https://nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/
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web search NEUTRAL — “I was disturbed to learn that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality had spent in excess of R21-million on this contract, some of which was allegedly used to remunerate political appointments under the …
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/das-nelson-mandela-bay-…
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“the Treasury had informed the municipality of its intent to invoke section 38 of the MFMA, read with sections 2 and 6 of the constitution.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for this claim in the provided search results.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.