{
  "id": 16008848,
  "title": "National Treasury proposes new law to hold municipal officials personally liable for waste",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/national-treasury-proposes-new-law-to-hold-municipal-officials",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-22T06:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IOL",
    "slug": "iol",
    "url": "https://iol.co.za/the-star/news/2026-10-22-national-treasury-proposes-new-law-to-hold-municipal-officials-personally-liable-for-waste/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The National Treasury in South Africa is considering a new law to hold municipal officials personally accountable for misusing public funds, according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The proposed legislation aims to embed fiscal sustainability as a standard in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) instead of a set numerical rule. Under the new law, each administration would commit to its own fiscal objectives, which they would then report on during the Budget and explain any significant deviations to Parliament. Additionally, the MTBPS documents indicate that the proposed changes will expand the National Treasury's oversight of municipal financial systems, including the selection of chief financial officers. Godongwana emphasized that this law would promote sound public financial management and prevent a recurrence of the fiscal decline that occurred from the global financial crisis to early 2020.",
  "summary": "Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced National Treasury's wide-ranging changes to the Municipal Finance Management Act including holding municipal officials and politicians personally liable for wasteful and fruitless expenditure.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Hindustan Times - World News",
        "title": "US Treasury yields hold steady as investors await economic data ahead of Fed rate decision on October 28",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/us-treasury-yields-hold-steady-as-investors-await-economic-data-ahead",
        "published": "2026-10-21T11:17:09.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "IOL",
        "title": "Treasury proposes personal liability for municipal officials over wasteful spending",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/treasury-proposes-personal-liability-for-municipal-officials-over",
        "published": "2026-10-22T08:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}