VANDERBIJLPARK – Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has come out guns blazing, dismissing claims that it splurged a whopping R12m on private grave-digging services.
On October 18, acting municipal spokesperson Anita Sehlabo dismissed the claims, labelling the reports as “misleading and politically charged.”
According to Sehlabo, the figure that recently made headlines and sparked public outrage has been misrepresented and exaggerated for ‘political gain’.
Sehlabo confirmed that the embattled municipality has received several media inquiries about reports that ELM spent R12 on grave-digging over the past five financial years.
“The figure, derived from a parliamentary enquiry, has unfortunately been misrepresented, and the municipality wishes to clarify the matter, as we are convinced that the issue has been overstated for political gain,” she said.
Sehlabo explained that Emfuleni facilitates between 60 and 110 burials every week, a workload that has forced the municipality to outsource grave-digging when internal teams cannot cope.
“The outsourcing of this service was a necessary measure, prompted by the high demand and limited internal capacity. At the time, grave-digging and filling were being done manually by municipal personnel, who could not keep up with the workload under those conditions,” she added.
She added that the municipality has since initiated a process to buy TractorLoader-Backhoes (TLBs) that will allow the municipality to handle more of the work in-house.
“Operating this machinery, however, requires certified skills that our general workers currently do not possess. The municipality is therefore reviewing its organisational structure to improve the sourcing of specialised skills required for sustainable service delivery.”
According to Sehlabo, Emfuleni has hired more general workers to ease the burden and deployed them across eight cemeteries to handle mowing, site preparation, and assisting the public during funerals.
Amid public criticism, Sehlabo slammed allegations of corruption and “double dipping” as baseless.
“ELM wishes to emphasise that, contrary to the false claims of ‘double dipping’ circulating in the media, all procurement processes were conducted in strict compliance with the Municipal Supply Chain Management Policy and the Municipal Finance Management Act,” she concluded.
