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ELM bank account seized again
SEDIBENG.- The Emfuleni Local Municipality’s (ELM) bank account was again seized last week in terms of a record R492 million High Court default judgment granted former smart meter service provider BXCSA - with both parties expected in court this week as the municipality seeks to stay execution of the original court order.
Last week’s account attachment was described by the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) as a direct result of the incompetence and mismanagement of ELM CFO Andile Dyakala.
“ELM employees and councillors will remain in direct danger of not receiving salaries until Dyakala is suspended and disciplined not only for gross financial and management negligence and incompetence but also for smear campaigns against his own superiors and business and media persons,” said GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger.
But ELM was still able to pay salaries – earlier than usual – for both employees and councillors last week due to the efforts of Municipal Manager, Lucky Leseane, said internal sources.
“Leseane was already “moving mountains” to ensure that ELM employees and councillor salaries would also be paid in December as other major creditors such as Eskom and Rand Water began increasing pressure to recover huge debts owed to them by ELM,” said the sources.
ELM and BXCSA were expected to participate in virtual on-line Johannesburg High Court proceedings on Wednesday, 25 November as the municipality seeks to have the execution of the R492 million default judgment stayed.
“We are requesting a stay of the execution of the default judgment pending finalisation of the rescission application,” said an informed ELM source.
Severe mismanagement and incompetence before Leseane’s appointment in February this year have created a perfect debt storm for the municipality throughout this year with the BXCSA judgment coming on top of a R2,1 billion Eskom judgment and Rand Water now decreasing water pressure due to huge debt owed by ELM.
This article first appeared in Sedibeng Ster newspaper (25 November – 1 December 2020).
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