OR TAMBO district municipality has set up a committee to investigate how the district authority managed to incur more than R4-billion in unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure in just five years.
The resolution was taken during a council meeting where the executive mayor Nomakhosazana Meth presented a report requesting council to write off the expenditure. It refused to do so and set up the probe instead.
This means each year, for the past five years, OR Tambo had irregular, fruitless, unauthorised and wasteful expenditure of almost R1-billion.
Unauthorised spend amounted to a staggering R2.2-billion, irregular expenditure to R1.6-billion and fruitless and wasteful expenditure to R24.2-million.
The report seen by the Daily Dispatch did not detail what was spent on what. This is the same district authority that in 2014 received a sixth consecutive disclaimer. The auditor-general upgraded his findings to a qualified audit in 2014-15.
After Meth’s presentation to council on September 30, council speaker Xolile Nkompela was mandated with establishing a five-member ad hoc committee to probe the figures.
This was after angry councillors resolved to probe the unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure.
However, the committee, which consists of four ANC councillors and one from the DA, has yet to start its probe, more than two weeks after it was appointed.
The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) and opposition parties have condemned the high figures, with the EFF labelling it “planned corruption”.
DA councillor Thembalihle Xhangayi, who serves on the committee, said he thought the committee would hit the ground running as they were given until the end of March next year to finalise their investigation.
Xhangayi said the money could have been used to construct rural roads, build thousands of houses and employ hundreds of thousands of residents.
“One can never understand what happened for the amount to be this huge. It doesn’t make any sense. The investigation should be fast-tracked so that all those responsible be held to account.
EFF councillor Unathi Khethwa said such “planned corruption that is inherent in the ANC”.
“The ANC as a whole is rotten. This is why so many are still poor 22 years into democracy.”
Khethwa said they were being kicked out of council meetings not because of their red overalls but because they had zero tolerance for corruption.
Mthatha Ratepayers and Residents Association (MRRA) councillor Booi Malghas was concerned that the ad hoc committee was dominated by the ANC.
“You can’t be a referee and a player. That investigation should be by people not involved. The committee defeats the whole purpose of democracy. It should have been a multi-party committee.”
PSAM researcher Lungile Penxa said the municipality was undermining the socio-economic problems of its people. “It cripples the groundwork of local municipalities who put together their integrated development plans to request a budget that will ensure social services and infrastructure. “Moreover, OR Tambo does not take seriously the provincial efforts to ensure improved socio-economic conditions in the province, so that skilled and unskilled residents stop migrating to Gauteng and Western Cape provinces to seek better opportunities,” said Penxa.
Ad hoc committee chairman Lulama Mziba could not be reached for comment.
The internal audit department was tasked with providing technical support to the committee.
Municipal manager Owen Hlazo would then inform National Treasury of the outcome of the investigation when the committee submits its report in March next year.
Contacted for comment on Friday on why the committee had yet to investigate the matter, Nkompela declined to comment and referred questions to Meth and Hlazo.
Meth’s spokesman Ayongezwa Lungisa said the billions were spent over a period of five years and not only in the 2014-15 financial year.
He stressed that the money had been used to deliver services.
“These include emergency services that made it impossible to follow all the regulations. However, the council committee will determine and weigh those reasons in line with the broader mandate of the organisation.
“Where there is a view that some funds were not supposed to be dispersed in the manner the committee may require further information or resolve for the recovery of those funds,” said Lungisa. — ndamasem@dispatch.co.za
lSee also page 4 and
our Opinion, page 7
O R Tambo to probe R4bn mystery funds
The resolution was taken during a council meeting where the executive mayor Nomakhosazana Meth presented a report requesting council to write off the expenditure. It refused to do so and set up the probe instead.
This means each year, for the past five years, OR Tambo had irregular, fruitless, unauthorised and wasteful expenditure of almost R1-billion.
Unauthorised spend amounted to a staggering R2.2-billion, irregular expenditure to R1.6-billion and fruitless and wasteful expenditure to R24.2-million.
The report seen by the Daily Dispatch did not detail what was spent on what. This is the same district authority that in 2014 received a sixth consecutive disclaimer. The auditor-general upgraded his findings to a qualified audit in 2014-15.
After Meth’s presentation to council on September 30, council speaker Xolile Nkompela was mandated with establishing a five-member ad hoc committee to probe the figures.
This was after angry councillors resolved to probe the unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure.
However, the committee, which consists of four ANC councillors and one from the DA, has yet to start its probe, more than two weeks after it was appointed.
The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) and opposition parties have condemned the high figures, with the EFF labelling it “planned corruption”.
DA councillor Thembalihle Xhangayi, who serves on the committee, said he thought the committee would hit the ground running as they were given until the end of March next year to finalise their investigation.
Xhangayi said the money could have been used to construct rural roads, build thousands of houses and employ hundreds of thousands of residents.
“One can never understand what happened for the amount to be this huge. It doesn’t make any sense. The investigation should be fast-tracked so that all those responsible be held to account.
EFF councillor Unathi Khethwa said such “planned corruption that is inherent in the ANC”.
“The ANC as a whole is rotten. This is why so many are still poor 22 years into democracy.”
Khethwa said they were being kicked out of council meetings not because of their red overalls but because they had zero tolerance for corruption.
Mthatha Ratepayers and Residents Association (MRRA) councillor Booi Malghas was concerned that the ad hoc committee was dominated by the ANC.
“You can’t be a referee and a player. That investigation should be by people not involved. The committee defeats the whole purpose of democracy. It should have been a multi-party committee.”
PSAM researcher Lungile Penxa said the municipality was undermining the socio-economic problems of its people. “It cripples the groundwork of local municipalities who put together their integrated development plans to request a budget that will ensure social services and infrastructure. “Moreover, OR Tambo does not take seriously the provincial efforts to ensure improved socio-economic conditions in the province, so that skilled and unskilled residents stop migrating to Gauteng and Western Cape provinces to seek better opportunities,” said Penxa.
Ad hoc committee chairman Lulama Mziba could not be reached for comment.
The internal audit department was tasked with providing technical support to the committee.
Municipal manager Owen Hlazo would then inform National Treasury of the outcome of the investigation when the committee submits its report in March next year.
Contacted for comment on Friday on why the committee had yet to investigate the matter, Nkompela declined to comment and referred questions to Meth and Hlazo.
Meth’s spokesman Ayongezwa Lungisa said the billions were spent over a period of five years and not only in the 2014-15 financial year.
He stressed that the money had been used to deliver services.
“These include emergency services that made it impossible to follow all the regulations. However, the council committee will determine and weigh those reasons in line with the broader mandate of the organisation.
“Where there is a view that some funds were not supposed to be dispersed in the manner the committee may require further information or resolve for the recovery of those funds,” said Lungisa. — ndamasem@dispatch.co.za
lSee also page 4 and
our Opinion, page 7
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