Municipal official owes municipality thousands

A high placed municipal official is accused of burning houses and destroying belongings. This following after the power that was switched off at the house he owns in Uthingo Park, for an outstanding municipal account of R 79 649.00.

After he was contacted on Tuesday, December 8, he only said: “I don’t want to speak to you anymore,” when he was asked about his account.

The house of tenants whose clothes and belongings were burnt on Sunday, December 6.

On Sunday, December 6 the official went to his property in Uthingo Park.

“There were people I did not know, so I burnt the stuff because it made my property look bad,” he said when he was contacted.

One of the residents, Mr Gerald Madala said that they were in the house when he arrived. There has been a problem with the water and electricity that was cut about two months ago.

Connections and wires inside the house where belongings were burnt on Sunday, December 6 (Photo: supplied)

“We were told the owner owes the municipality money. On Sunday, between 18:00 and 19:00, we were at our homes when the owner pitched up and we left him there. After we left, we received phone calls that he is busy burning our stuff. We rushed back and found the owner burning clothes, money, our furniture, identity documents and more valuables,” Madala stated.

“In two rooms, chaos was caused and six people lost what little valuables they had. They were only left with the clothing they were wearing,” Madala continued.
“After asking him why he did that, we received no answer. He promised to return when he left, and we went to open a case at the Witbank police station. Before we could return home, another phone call informed us that he has indeed returned, but with backup and they were burning the rest of the things. We came upon drug dealers from Tasbet Park, who were also armed.”

According to Madala, one of the tenants asked what was happening and why they were burning the property. They allegedly assaulted her and left the premises.

The wiring in the distribution box was not up to standard (Photo: supplied).

The owner of the property denied the allegations that one of the residents was assaulted.
According to a trusted source, illegal connections were made inside the property which caused one of the distribution boxes to explode. This was allegedly done to save power, because a total of 40 tenants are currently residing at the property.

According to Madala, there are three houses including back rooms on the property.
The source also said that there is one toilet for approximately 10 people, and it is alleged that the hygiene is terrible.

The matter has been reported to Mr Theo van Vuuren, Municipal Manager on December 8, and again on Monday, December 14.

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