The Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM) has allegedly bought 24 laptops that cost almost R1m. This has led to the Bolsheviks Party of South Africa raising concerns at the ANC-led municipality.

Amid the recent arrests of current and former SDM members by the Hawks on corruption charges, some are still allegedly continuing with corrupt activities.

The opposition party at the municipality has urged the executive mayor, Maleke Mokganyetji, to act.

“Can Mokganyetji and municipal manager Meshack Kgwale bring us into confidence how the municipality’s IT department was authorised to purchase 24 laptops at about R34k each?,” asked Seun Mogotji, the Bolsheviks Party leader.

He said it had come to light that the Dell Intel Inspiron brand’s top-tier laptop costs between R14 000 and R16 000 each. “Why did these ones cost so much? And why didn’t anyone stop the purchase as it makes no business sense at all?” questioned Mogotji.

Lowvelder has seen documents and slips revealing the laptops cost a whopping R998 000.

The party said it needs answers on the matter. “Will this madness ever stop? Someone must explain why this ridiculous purchase was made by a struggling municipality, which is always in the news for the wrong reasons, like mismanagement of public finances,” he added.

According to Mogotji, SDM officials are behaving as if the municipal funds are a ‘piggy bank’. “It seems that at any time an official is in a financial fix, the first stop is the municipality’s funds.

“How can laptops costs R34 000 each? It seems the grey matter of municipality officials is swimming in corruption, so much so they cannot see anything wrong with ripping the municipality off,” added Mogotji.

The publication forwarded queries to SDM spokesperson Kgetjepe Maredi. He did not respond by time of publishing.