Endumeni Mayor, Thulani Mahaye, has refuted an anonymous fax, which was received by the Courier on October 20, wherein it is alleged that the Mayor appointed bodyguards without following ‘proper Supply Chain Management Procedures’.
There was also an invoice attached to the fax, which reflected that the Council owed Wise Training Centre in Ladysmith R564 436,57 for bodyguard services – including ‘transit services and back-up Ford Ranger with guards armed with semi-automatic weapons’.
In his response, Mayor Mahaye, said ‘such a faceless document does not even warrant a response,’.
It is believed that the invoice had ‘been altered and the figures inflated by individuals within the municipality in an attempt to discredit the Mayor’.
Later, another invoice was sent by Wise Training reflecting an amount of R74 100 owed by the Council. Mayor Mahaye has stated that his personal security is his own prerogative and is assembled according to the level of threats which are directed toward him, ‘considering he is the Mayor as well as the Deputy Chair of the ANC Region and serves on the Umzinyathi District Council.
“I cannot see why the anonymous sender is trying to aver that there is something sinister going on.
I have extra security, which I have solicited at reasonable rates, in a fair and transparent manner.
The exorbitant amount reflected on the anonymous invoice is an attempt at misleading the public,” he told the Courier.
“As the Mayor, I have worked tirelessly to market Endumeni in order to help it develop into a productive and functional entity, as my love for Endumeni can never falter. I am completing my five-year term and during such term I have championed the cause of Endumeni on every level of Government and beyond.”
The Mayor added that a task team has been set up to investigate the anonymous fax and that there has been a major breakthrough in that regard.
‘The individual who is engineering and co-ordinating these acts of sabotage will be identified.”