Makana's Acting Chief Financial Officer Namhla Dlulane said she feared for her life when a group of municipal suppliers – one of them reportedly a policeman – locked her in her office last Monday, demanding to be paid for their services.
Makana's Acting Chief Financial Officer Namhla Dlulane said she feared for her life when a group of municipal suppliers – one of them reportedly a policeman – locked her in her office last Monday, demanding to be paid for their services.
She said she believed they were trying to intimidate her into leaving the municipality. She revealed this, along with a host of new financial gremlins, at Tuesday’s meeting of Council's finance portfolio.
In an emailed response to questions from Grocott's Mail regarding the incident, while she did not mention how many men had been involved, what time of the day the incident occurred or how it was resolved, she described a frightening scenario.
"The people had a clear mandate of doing everything in their power to intimidate me in any respect, as they indicated their intention to get me to vacate the municipality," Dlulane wrote. "Mr [name omitted]mentioned that they know where I stay and they’ll ensure that I leave alive or dead, I can quote him saying, 'Ucinga uziHawks ushiya icorruption eMdantsane ucinga uzophelisa icorruption yaseMakana ndiyiNzule mna ndizokubonisa, bendifuna ukubona ubuso bakho' (you think you're the Hawks. You left corruption in Mdantsane thinking you were going to end corruption in Makana. I'm going to show you – I just wanted to see your face.)
"I was shocked indeed, as I never expected such an action and yes I felt physically threatened especially upon realising that he is a policeman in the service of the state. As a result, when he came back from the city hall to get their invoices I forwarded to the MM’s office, I was trying to contact [Grahamstown Station Commander, Brigadier Morgan Govender] he said: “Ucinga uzokwenzelani uGovender, akazundenza nto… phaya and akazukuhamba nawe yonke indawo sifuna imali yethu and uzoyibhatala noba uyibhatala from your own pocket.” (What do you think Govender is going to do? He's not going to do anything… and he's not going to be with you everywhere you go. We want our money and you are going to pay it, even if it's from your own pocket.)
At Tuesday's meeting Dlulane, who five months ago was assigned to straighten out financial matters in the municipality, spoke about the ongoing problem of under-expenditure in the municipality and described it as a Catch 22 situation. Earlier this year she'd had to turn away four tenders for various reasons – one being that suppliers were being paid VAT, even though they were non-VAT vendors, thus delaying the provision of supplies and services.
“The VAT Act prohibits payment of VAT to non-vendors,” she wrote in a report presented at the meeting, explaining that VAT registration could be verified through the South African Revenue Service (SARS) According to Dlulane, would-be suppliers must provide a VAT registration certificate and a valid tax-clearance certificate.
She said instances in which VAT was incorrectly paid to the suppliers must be identified, in order to determine the extent of the municipality's loss as a result. “It must be highlighted that the municipality will not recover this money from SARS,” she wrote.
Finance portfolio committee chairperson Pierre Ranchhod then pointed out that municipal officials were not adhering to proper procurement policy, “in the sense that the policy says they can only do services with people in our city that have their rates and taxes up to date”.
He said he had observed at the finance department that officials were dealing with suppliers who failed to meet this criterion. He said he hoped suppliers would now comply and offer up the information required, such as tax clearance certificates.
Another problem Dlulane highlighted was that some companies provided personal bank account details to the municipality instead of company accounts. She also expressed concern that officials were deviating from the proper procurement processes when appointing service providers, resulting in unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure.
In connection with the alleged incident, Dlulane said she had opened a case of intimidation at the local police station with the assistance of Brigadier Govender and his team on the same day, and had received a case number. But she believes her troubles are not over.
"Please note that the threats are not only coming from the external people but also from the internal people, including those I’d have expected support and protection from," Dlulane wrote in her email. "I however am taking solace from the fact that there are people with clear conscience and who have the municipality’s best interest at heart supporting me.
As a result of this, I have been made aware of who is instigating the instability within and outside the municipality and the reasons thereof and I have been told that there are at least about six other 'service providers' who will come to demand payment in the same fashion. "I trust the Almighty God in Heaven for protection, as He has never let me down before," Dlulane wrote.
