Last week’s headline Cars vs Budget had a ripple effect. It left the residents shaking their heads in disbelief.

“This is a slap in the face to every resident dodging a pothole, or who has no water and is begging for streetlights,” said resident Insa du Toit.

Municipal Manager said he suggested

In the wake of the front-page outcry, Municipal Manager Sizwe Mayisela moved to correct the record. He clarified that his suggestion to Salga was merely to consider a price threshold between R700 000 and R1.5m.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we will buy cars worth R1.5m,” Mayisela insisted.

Mayisela added, “I never said that three cars must be bought. Furthermore, I never said I am going to submit a proposal that the threshold for cars for the troika should be R1.5m.”

Council is renting a car for the Speaker

The Speaker’s 13-year-old Lexus has over 443 000km on the clock and failing brakes; the vehicle is described as a mechanical liability to everyone on the road.

The car for mayoral use, a 2018 Audi Q7, is sitting on 271 042km.

The municipality is currently renting a car for the Speaker. They did not disclose how much is paid for the rental, but said it is part of a security contract they have with Carewell Security.
Despite formal requests for transparency, the municipality have remained tight-lipped about the rental costs.

DA slams extravagant expenditure

The hiccup in the plan to purchase new cars remains the price tag. While the opposition party agrees that new vehicles are operationally necessary, the projected costs have drawn a line in the sand.

“The DA wishes to place it firmly on record that we are not opposing the purchase of vehicles where they are legitimately required for operational purposes. However, we strongly oppose the unreasonable and unjustifiable cost of R1.5m per vehicle.  A vehicle in the R700 000 to R750 000 range is more than sufficient to meet the required standards of safety, reliability, and functionality. At a time when our communities are struggling with service delivery failures, unemployment, and infrastructure collapse, Council cannot justify extravagant expenditure that places political luxury above the needs of residents, “said DA councillor, Maureen Scheepers.

Readers also accelerate on new cars

“In the financial state the municipality finds itself, it is time to put the brakes on luxury and shift the focus to the huge Eskom bill,” Du Toit added.

Another resident, Karen Tollemache, reacted, “Why pay R1.5m for a car? They can buy very nice cars for R700 000. Pay the water and fix the roads and streetlight instead.”

Municipality said they can consider cheaper alternatives

The municipality’s spokesperson Lebo Mofokeng commented, “The municipal manager requested council to consider submitting a proposal to Salga to have a threshold between R700 000 to R1.5m.  This doesn’t mean council cannot consider cheaper alternatives. We can even buy a car worth R500 000.”

According to Mofokeng, chaos did not break out, it was a debate, “Council meetings are convened for the purpose of councillors to consider items and have debates where they do not agree with the recommendations submitted by the mayor.

WITBANK NEWS is waiting for recordings of the meeting

Despite these clarifications, transparency remains a hurdle. WITBANK NEWS requested the official recordings of the council meeting to verify the discussions.

Mofokeng responded to the “request for the recordings and said, “It surprising that WITBANK NEWS didn’t ask Clr Maureen Scheepers for the council meeting recordings.”

The municipality claims that WITBANK NEWS just published the story even after they commented and expressed their view that what they call the ‘Maureen article’ is full of lies.

Witbank News maintains that a journalist attended the council meeting in person, providing an accurate and transparent account of the proceedings to ensure readers remained fully informed of what transpired.

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