The DA in Gauteng has called for an urgent investigation into the alleged payment of an annual salary of R784 212 for four years to a ‘senior accountant’ at the Emfuleni Local Municipality in Vanderbijlpark, who supposedly did no work during this time.

The opposition party has demanded that the Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Mzi Khumalo, looks into the matter. It alleges that the senior accountant has pocketed over R3m from the municipality since 2019.

According to the DA MPL and Emfuleni North constituency head Kingsol Chabalala, this is happening while residents suffer from a severe lack of service delivery.

Chabalala says: “The information was revealed by MEC Khumalo in a written reply to questions tabled at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature by the DA. According to Khumalo, the Emfuleni municipal manager was unaware of the issue, he learnt about it from the DA’s questions. This indicates that the municipal manager is failing to ensure that Emfuleni’s coffers are spent wisely for the benefit of its residents. This shows that there is no monitoring or skills audit of all employees.”

Chabalala adds that the fact that ELM failed to disclose the qualifications of the senior accountant raises questions about whether he meets the job requirements.

“While the municipal manager has instituted an audit of all employees to stop the ghost workers, we demand that those implicated in paying salaries to them be held accountable.

“It is high time that Emfuleni gets rid of corrupt officials to ensure that municipal funds are spent wisely to improve service delivery,” Chabalala says.

Asked why the accountant had not reported for duty for the past four years, the MEC responded that the municipal manager learnt with dismay that there is such a practice as this was not brought to his attention.

“The municipal manager has ordered a detailed report from the revenue department. The findings in this regard will lead to proper measures to redress such misconduct.

“The accounting officer has also called for an audit, institution-wide, of all employees who are not coming to work, and has called for the Human Resources Department to do an audit of all municipal staff to stop ghost workers if they so exist,” Khumalo says.