Pay up, erring councillors told

TWELVE eThekwini councillors have been named and shamed after the city's ethics committee found them guilty of owing the municipality around R40 000 in unpaid rates and services.

The councillors were named during Wednesday’s full council meeting, and were given warning letters to pay back the money, which ranged from R60 to more than R8000. Eleven of the councillors were from the ANC, and one councillor was from the DA.

The councillors who owe the City are Vusi Geshabe, who is in arrears for R60.80, Themba Jacob Ncane, who owes R105, Khanyisile Mthembu, who owes R717, Amon Dladla, who owes R893, Stanley Butelezi, who owes R1 270, Vincent Nzama, who owes R2 615, Abegail Shabalala, who owes R2 712, Professor Sibiya, who owes R3 726, Bongani Gumede, who owes R4 800, Dennis Shozi, who owes R4 927, Primrose Hlengwa, who owes R5 598, and Pragalathan Naidoo, who owes R8 187.

The case against ANC councillor, Hendrick Cele, who owed R9 632, was withdrawn because he died last December.

The councillors had reportedly not paid rates and utility bills for more than 90 days, and some were in arrears at multiple properties.

The investigation was launched after the ethics committee received a report in October last year from eThekwini speaker Logie Naidoo, on possible non-compliance in relation to councillors who were in arrears from July to October 2015. The committee conducted hearings last month to find out the reason for non-compliance and all councillors were found to have violated the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000.

Sharon House, Chief Whip for the DA eThekwini Caucus, said it had taken the Speaker, Logie Naidoo more than four years to submit reports to the ethics committee of the continuous contraventions of Schedule 1 of the Municipal Systems Act, which stated that no councillor may be in arrears for municipal services for more than 90 days.

“In the recent report, it was clear that some councillors showed total disregard to the act and were in arrears for more than two years, without making proper arrangements. The DA has continually added pressure on the speaker to release this report. It is a disgrace that the Speaker chose to put the reputation of the city at risk by not complying with legislation. The DA will ensure that the monthly reports are made more transparent and ensure that councillors who are in arrears are not given special treatment. If ratepayers are disconnected when in arrears, so too must councillors and employees of the municipality,” she said.