Opposition parties in Tshwane, including the DA and the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), are placing increasing pressure on the metro after council and committee meetings at the end of September.

Both parties have announced that they are ready to take action against what they describe as a systematic decay in management, accountability, and service delivery.

The DA is focusing on Mayor Nasiphi Moya’s handling of serious allegations against her deputy and MMC of Finance, Eugene Modise, who allegedly has financial interests in a security service provider to the city.

According to DA mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink, there are allegations that an internal probe by the metro found Modise did not correctly declare his interests in security company Triotic, which is a violation of the Municipal Financial Management Act.

Brink says Moya has failed to act, and a special council meeting at which the report would have been served was abruptly cancelled the previous evening.

“The mayor has had ample time to assume responsibility. If there is a report implicating Modise, he should have been dismissed already,” Brink says.

The DA is planning to serve a motion of no confidence against Modise, and has also raised the issue of Mzansi Resorts’ debt.

The tourism and events destination at a property in Soshanguve is indebted to the metro to the tune of R23-million, and is apparently linked to Modise. None of its services has been suspended.

In reaction to the allegations regarding Triotic and Mzansi Resorts, Modise told Rekord that the contract with security company Triotic was awarded long before his term in office was granted via court order.

“I declared everything,” Modise says. “The DA will always bring evil motions against African leadership, and this motion will fail, just like the recent one against the Speaker. I’m not worried. They won’t accept any leadership apart from their own.”

Modise confirmed that Mzansi Resorts is indeed his company. He says it, however, has no direct account with the metro and the accumulated debt was not accrued by the company, but by the previous tenants on the property.

According to Modise, the North West Housing Corporation, as the owner of the property of holiday and events destination Mzansi Resorts, is currently involved in a legal dispute involving the outstanding amounts.

Bishop Sello Mogodiri, North West Housing Corporation CEO, confirmed to Rekord that the corporation ‘has no relationship with the Deputy Mayor of Tshwane, Eugene Modise’.

About the Morula Hotel, now known as Mzansi Resorts, which is owned by the corporation, Mogodiri confirms that ‘the corporation does not discuss the duties of contracted parties publicly with a third party. We can, however, reveal that there is current litigation between Mzansi Resorts and the North West Housing Corporation. As such, the case is sub judice’.

Meanwhile, the FF Plus has expressed its own range of serious concerns regarding the state of management and service delivery in the metro.

FF Plus councillor Nick Pascoe says the latest capital budget report shows 95% of the metro’s adjusted capital budget of R2.3-billion has already been spent, but less than half of the projects have reached their planned milestones.

“The party has good reason to be concerned over the metro’s continued failure to adhere to the principles of sound financial management, effective execution of projects and constitutional service delivery,” says Pascoe.

He warns that expenditure of more than R1-billion has yet to be converted into sustainable or completed infrastructure.

“The absence of cause analysis, recovery plans, and consequence management indicates a culture of inertia and irresponsibility.”

Co-party member, Johann van der Spuy, shifted the focus to the metro’s legal department, where 3 473 lawsuits are pending, some from as long ago as 2008. The likely financial exposure from these lawsuits amounts to more than R12.5-billion.

“This report is not only a list, but a charge against a system that has lapsed into mismanagement, recklessness and corruption,” Van der Spuy says.

“Cadre deployment has changed the legal department into a feeding trough for politically-affiliated cadres.”

He says local legal expertise is being systematically ignored, while lawyers from Sandton and Johannesburg are appointed at exorbitant rates.

The FF Plus calls for the appointment of competent internal lawyers at a fraction of the current cost.

Peter Meijer, another FF Plus councillor, warns about the enormous cost of water delivery with tankers.

According to him, the metro pays 1c a litre for water, but 10c per litre to have it delivered, which adds up to more than R530-million a year.

He says there is evidence of irregularities, among which are stationary vehicles and possible double-billing, and that no proper contract documentation or monitoring exists.

“When delivery is 10 times more expensive than the product itself, something clearly is wrong,” he says.

The FF Plus has insisted that an independent forensic investigation be done into all water tanker contracts since 2021, and that officials involved in malpractices be dismissed immediately.

The party considers the various problems a serious breach of trust by the metro and a breach of constitutional duties.

“The residents of Tshwane deserve working infrastructure, not empty promises and misleading reports,” says Pascoe.

“We will keep fulfilling our watchdog role and will not rest until there is actual accountability.”

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