‘Sies Van Vuuren!’

The Democratic Alliance is not backing down from their fight against corruption and mismanagement of municipal funds.

On Tuesday October 18, Mandela Street was ‘painted’ blue when the opposition party marched to the civic theatre to hand over a memorandum of demands to the Executive Mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali.

Mr Theo van Vuuren stood on a balcony looking onto proceedings when a memorandum was handed over to the Executive Mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali calling for his immediate suspension on Tuesday, October 18.

They demanded that the municipal manager, Mr Theo van Vuuren, be suspended with immediate effect and the purchase of a new vehicle for the mayor be put on ice.

Mandela Street was ‘painted’ blue on Tuesday, October 18 and there was a strong police presence.

The DA has laid two separate charges of fraud and corruption against Van Vuuren for his alleged involvement in fraud and corruption.

They are also accusing Van Vuuren of manipulating vote numbers in order to roll-over unspent conditional grants from three years ago to fund the R1.5 million mayoral vehicle.

Henro Kruger MP Shadow Deputy Minister of Small Business Development and Additional member Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also participated in the march and gave a brief sketch of how he sees Van Vuuren’s role in eMalahleni.

“Van Vuuren was appointed by his best friend Premier of Mpumalanga, Mr DD Mabuza. Van Vuuren then appointed Mr Ben Dorfling as chief financial officer. And what can Dorfling show for all the hours he spent in office, a garden. One of the first things Dorfling did when he came into office was to beautify the garden in front of the civic theatre, repair benches at the park and repair a water feature.”

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The CFO then very suddenly and silently left office and was never heard of again. But he left behind a huge Eskom debt that still cannot be caught up with today.

DA Caucus Leader, Cllr Naritha Naidu handed over a petition which bears 1 700 signatures from residents urging the mayor to refrain from buying a car and rather spend the money on service delivery that has reached an all time low.

“The mayor’s insistence on rewarding herself with a R1.5 million vehicle while service delivery in the municipality keeps deteriorating is a blatant slap in the face to the people living in the municipality. If Mayor Ntshalintshali really cared about uplifting the municipality she vowed to serve, she would suspend Theo van Vuuren pending the outcome of his fraud and corruption charges that are currently being investigated by the Hawks.

The memorandum containing 1 700 signatures from residents asking the Executive Mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali to refrain from buying a new mayoral vehicle.

The Executive Mayor Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali acknowledges receiving the memorandum on Tuesday, October 18.

“Mayor Ntshalintshali cannot deny that under her leadership, service delivery in the municipality has hit rock bottom as eMalahleni faces its fifth consecutive disclaimer from the Auditor General,” said Cllr Naidu.

“The time has come for Mayor Ntshalintshali to show decisive leadership and put her personal and political interests aside in favour of eMalahleni residents who bear the brunt of the lack of services. The DA will continue to hold Mayor Ntshalintshali on account and ensure that the foundations of corruption that have crippled eMalahleni are rooted out. It is time to deliver services and not cars.”

In a distance Van Vuuren looked on as DA supporters chanted and shouted “Sies Van Vuuren sies!” He even acknowledged the speech from Mr Kruger with a nod of his head and lifting the cup of coffee he had in his hand.

When the proceedings were done Cllr Ntshalintshali hurriedly walked away before the media could get a chance to get an interview with her.

The Executive Mayor Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali is not at all pleased with the excitement displayed by DA Provincial Chairperson, Jane Sithole MPL.

Van Vuuren later said the memorandum contained the same unsubstantiated and misguided statements as answered on previously. He said the mayor will be responding to the memorandum in due course as it was addressed to her.

“We are experiencing a pending disaster caused by the drought and contracting economy and this is my team’s focuses at this stage not this self driven vendetta which serves no constructive purpose.” Van Vuuren said.

The DA gave Cllr Ntshalintshali 14 days to respond to their demands.

An illegal demonstration by a handful of ANC supporters could not put a damper on the excitement from the DA as they made the voice of the community heard. Now the countdown begins to see if Van Vuuren will be suspended or not.

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