An "emotional" municipality boss could be jailed for contempt of a provincial legislature if found guilty after walking out of a heated oversight meeting.

Naledi local municipality manager Modisenyane Segapo walked out of a meeting called by the North West provincial legislature's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) last week.

Scopa described Segapo's behaviour as unprecedented in the country.

He was due to answer questions relating to unauthorised expenditure amounting to R107-million, R153000 in irregular expenditure and R34-million in fruitless expenditure.

Also read: Notable decrease in unauthorised government expenditure: AG

He also had to explain why some municipality officials have not been paying for services.

According to the auditor-general's (AG) provincial office, the Vryburg-based municipality is struggling to pay its debtors, including Eskom, and most of its officials owe the municipality a lot of money for rates and services.

The AG's report also revealed that some officials and councillors do business with the municipality.

Segapo attended the meeting together with the mayor Langa Modise and other officials without relevant documentation.

Tension erupted when Scopa members asked him to give them financial reports.

He allegedly could not handle the heated verbal exchange that followed and stood up and left the meeting.

Scopa chairman Mahlakeng Mahlakeng had to ask Modise to go and call him back into the meeting but apparently Segapo refused to return.

Modise told Scopa members that Segapo was too emotional and needed the meeting rescheduled.

"This has never happened in the Republic, particularly in the democratic dispensation, where an accounting officer walks out of parliament because he thinks that he is not happy with the manner in which the members of parliament are requesting him to account," said Mahlakeng.

Mahlakeng said they had given the legislature speaker Susan Dantjie their report.

"We think that section 114 and 115 of the constitution of the Republic and the rules of the provincial legislature must all be looked at with a view to charging him," he said.

Mahlakeng said the charges against Segapo would be handed over to the National Prosecuting Authority by the end of the week, for a decision to prosecute.

"It is indeed a serious matter so we are going ahead with it," Mahlakeng said yesterday while briefing local government and human settlements MEC Fenny Gaolaolwe about the incident.

Gaolaolwe said she was disappointed by Segapo's behaviour.

"It was decided during the council sitting on Tuesday that he must be given a letter of intention to suspend him," she said.

Segapo could not be reached for comment yesterday.

tshehleb@sowetan.co.za