Luxury cars over service delivery?
The municipality's acting chief financial officer revealed the City is owed R3.6b and they also did not deny new vehicles worth R2.3m being purchased.
Mogale City Local Municipality’s (MCLM) leadership has been accused of negligence and mismanagement of funds.
A whistleblower has alleged that MCLM has spent over R2.3m on luxury BMWs for its leadership.
The whistleblower, whose identity is known to the Krugersdorp News but has requested anonymity, revealed that earlier this year, new BMW X3s were purchased for former executive mayor Daniel Thupane, former speaker and current mayor Lucky Sele, and council whip Councillor Tsholofelo Ramaisa. The R2.3 million expenditure listed under the mayor’s budget appears to confirm these acquisitions. The source further claimed that a Discovery Land Rover previously used by Sele during his tenure as speaker had not yet reached the mileage threshold to justify replacing it as his official vehicle.
Thupane, an African Transformation Movement councillor, resigned hours before a motion of no-confidence was tabled against him during a council meeting in October. It was confirmed that much of the budget was approved by him to purchase those new vehicles.
According to MCLM communication officer Refilwe Mahlangu, the municipality can confirm that new vehicles were purchased.
She said the municipality procured the said vehicles for the Political Management Team. The procurement is from a funded municipal budget marking the first such instance since 2017, where Mogale’s projected and allocated revenues are sufficient to meet its budgeted commitments. This fully funded budget enables Mogale to focus on service delivery with reduced pressure on budget support programs.
”The vehicles previously in use were not in optimal operational condition, frequently breaking down and requiring costly repairs. In addition to posing safety and security risks to users due to their poor condition, the maintenance costs had become a significant financial burden for the municipality. Further, as noted above, sufficient funds are available to cover the municipality’s budgeted commitments, ensuring that service delivery, which is our key mandate, will not be compromised,” Mahlangu said.
Mahlangu also explained that the process begins with a budget proposal being submitted to the council for approval. Once approved, the necessary procurement procedures are carried out. In this case, the procurement was conducted through a national Treasury Transversal Contract, which enables various government entities, including municipalities, to utilise existing contracts. This approach is primarily intended to ensure value for money, cost savings, and other benefits.
The News is also aware of the service delivery crisis and municipal financial mismanagement issues MCLM is currently facing.
According to Mogale City’s acting chief financial officer (CFO), Binang Monkwe, the municipality is owed R3.6b, with a significant portion of the debt attributed to residents or households that receive their electricity supply from Eskom.
He added of the R3.6b debt, R95m is owed by government departments, R736m by commercial business and industrial customers, R3.8m by staff members, R827 000 by councillors and R171m by others which include farmers, religious organisations, and sundry debtors, while 92% of the debt was older than three months.
The News has previously reported on other issues such as the sewage crisis and the decrypt municipal infrastructure in Mogale that impacts residents daily. It was confirmed by the municipality’s Water Management Services that almost R300m over the past five years was spent to help with repairs and maintenance of its sewage infrastructure, however, it has seemingly gotten worse with residents still complaining about the crisis that is yet to be resolved.
