SHERRIF SEIZES THABAZIMBI MUNICIPAL ASSETS

When the Democratic Alliance (DA) and new elected municipal councillors of the Thabazimbi Municipality arrived at work yesterday they were shocked to find the Sheriff of the Court removing office equipment and other assets from the building. Computers, furniture and even water trucks were seized.

Newly elected Speaker and DA member Bertie Joubert on the party’s Facebook page said the Sheriff stated that this action was as a result of outstanding debt which despite many warnings and threats over the last year, had not been paid by the former ANC-run administration. Joubert was reportedly told that the assets being removed did not even cover half of the outstanding amount owed.

The municipality was placed under Section 139(1)(b) administration due to tender irregularities, corruption, fraud and mismanagement last year. Despite the appointment of an independent administrator, the financial mismanagement deteriorated after it failed to implement the turnaround strategy intended to improve the financial catastrophe in the municipality.

DA Provincial Leader Jacques Smalle in a press release issued today (Friday) stated that the  action was highly suspicious and the administrator, together with the provincial government should be held responsibility for the current situation.

“The co-governance leadership has discovered that several senior officials deliberately ignored court orders to pay all the service providers and failure to do that led to all the municipal assets being seized. These officials contravened the Public Finance Management Amendment Act. regulations section 81 and committed an act of financial misconduct for wilfully permitting an unauthorised expenditure, an irregular expenditure and wasteful expenditure,” the statement read.

The appointed administrator reportedly further disregarded Section 102(2) of the Municipal Finance Management Act which clearly states that cases of irregular or fraudulent expenditure must be reported to the Police but not even a single case was reported.

Smalle said the coalition council, having taken control of the municipality from the ANC, now faces an uphill battle to fix the mess the ANC left behind. The press release states that the DA leadership has managed to obtain a full list of debtors and reports on all outstanding debt and seeking legal advice to resolve the matter.

“We established an investigation to probe these officials and will further meet with all debtors to discuss their cases and negotiate with the sheriff to return all the municipal assets.”

The DA in its statement further assured the residents of Thabazimbi that it would do everything in its power to get the municipality up and running as soon as possible and to fix the damage done by the ANC. “We are committed to creating opportunities, rooting out corruption and delivering better survives for all,” it read.

Story: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com

Featured photo: Democratic Alliance Provincial Leader Jacques Smalle.