uMdoni: Licensed to splurge
A three-day ‘Councillor Orientation Workshop’ for all 37 councillors, including senior management was organised - in Umhlanga.
HARDLY two months after the local government elections and it seems uMdoni Municipality councillors are already seeing it as a licence to put their fingers in the cookie jar.
It is claimed that the very first order of business of the new uMdoni EXCO was to consider budget changes which would allow for the purchase of a R600 000 vehicle for the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Sibongile Khati.
Also planned for purchase are brand new top-of-the-range laptops for EXCO members.
Mayor Thabani Dube, Deputy Mayor Cllr Khati and the Speaker, former uMdoni Mayor Cllr Siyabonga Khwela, are all full-time councillors who earn allowances in the excess of R600 000 per annum.
But aside from this, apparently the councillors will also be given access to drivers, personal assistants and laptops. In addition to luxury vehicles, the costs for personal use are also covered.
The uMdoni Democratic Alliance Caucus stated: “The fact that the councillors are relatively young people who could drive themselves around and earn way beyond the average income of uMdoni citizens, did not dampen their enthusiasm to satisfy an insatiable appetite for self-enrichment”.
A three-day ‘Councillor Orientation Workshop’ for all 37 councillors, including senior management was also organised.
Mayor Dube decided that everyone should be booked into the Protea Hotel in Umhlanga for the duration.
The Mail contacted the hotel and it was confirmed that the estimated costs involved in regards to accommodation and the hiring of the conference venue came to a total of R207 480.
A call to the Blue Marlin Hotel revealed that the local venue would have cost around R83 996.
The Mail would certainly like to know why cheaper local alternatives were not used, especially since it would also have contributed to local business growth.
Sources told the Mail that Mayor Dube was also ‘missing’… as were many of his colleagues after the first day.
uMdoni DA Caucus: The DA councillors refused to indulge in this wanton display of wasteful expenditure, and travelled daily to the venue at their own cost.
During his inaugural speech, Mayor Dube stated that: “Our task is fairly simple, and it is to continue to ensure the lives of the people of uMdoni are improved through the provision of housing, electricity, roads, water, healthcare services, education and other special programmes”.
The uMdoni DA Caucus: “Our towns continue to wilt under a non-responsive, non performing council and administration – these events set the tone for what appears to be a plundering spree, rather than a stern commitment to service delivery. Whilst our leaders busy themselves with spending more big money on big council chambers, the citizens of Amandawe march in protest over broken promises.”
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