SANDILE MOTHA
AS a knee jerk reaction to the damning Auditor- General’s report on the poor financial state of municipalities, the ANC under the uMdoni local municipality is now targeting opposition councillors accusing them of sharing sensitive affairs of the council to the media.
According to Francois Rodgers, the Democratic Alliance chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, two party councillors have received written notifications hauling them before the Municipal Ethics Committee.
The charges were laid by the ANC Municipal Speaker, Cllr Nombuso Mpanza-Mngadi, against Cllr Shara Singh and Edwin Baptie of the DA.
The councillors are accused of discussing municipal finances with the media.
“They are facing charges of breaching section 11 (a) of schedule 1 of the municipal systems act. The relevant section 11 (a) of the systems act quoted in both charge sheets state that a councillor may not except as provided by law interfere in the management or administration unless mandated by the council,” explained Rodgers.
Last week, Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu painted a grim picture of the province’s municipalities in terms of financial management capabilities.
Out of 54 municipalities, only uKhahlamba local municipality achieved a clean audit with a chunk achieving poor audit outcomes.
“The ANC and their comrades in KZN continue to play puerile political games in local government at the expense of our people. This on the back of Kimi Makwetu the Auditor General appalling report on the state of municipalities. KwaZulu-Natal is one of the worst performing province in South Africa, with continued and substantial regression,” added Rodgers.
Ugu district municipality, which uMdoni falls under, was featured as one of the worst offenders in the AG’s report as having failed to have proper financial accountabilities measures in place to curb fruitless and irregular expenditure.
The report also noted that the municipality often misrepresented its financial statements failing to reflect accurately its financial performance and financial health.
There was also no evidence on how money was spent in one instance, with goods and services above R200 000 being purchased without inviting competitive bids.
Sifundo Ngwane, IFP spokesperson for Ugu district, said there was an ongoing culture of intolerance and failure to account on public funds.
“Opposition councillors are treated with disdain. The ruling party has tendency to use its majority and shield their comrades facing allegations of corruption and fraud. Last year, the Auditor General made a finding that projects worth several millions were inflated and the money vanished without any accountability,” said Ngwane.
Inside Metros has established that all three reports probing allegations of corruption and fraud in the awarding of capital projects concluded that there was underhand dealings in the awarding of capital projects and recommended that disciplinary and criminal charges be instituted. A year later, nothing has materialized.
The probe was conducted by provincial department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, office of the Auditor General and the municipal public accounts committee.
Attempts to get a response from municipal spokesperson or council speaker Mpaza-Mngadi to shed more light on the charges against the councillors proved futile.
(Compiled by Inside Metros staff)