Makana Municipality spent R149 929.99 on the hire of a car for Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter while he waited for a SUV of the right colour. This can be found in a Makana financial report littered with fruitless and unnecessary spending.
Makana Municipality spent R149 929.99 on the hire of a car for Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter while he waited for a SUV of the right colour. This can be found in a Makana financial report littered with fruitless and unnecessary spending.
The reason given for the car hire in a recent financial report in the second quarter of Makana Municipality’s financial year was “various car hires while the mayoral vehicle was unavailable”.
The ‘mayor vehicle’ caused controversy in June last year because the municipality insisted that the chosen car, a Toyota Fortuner, had to be black.
The tender was awarded to Settlers City Toyota but the dealership had to order the car directly from the manufacturers in Japan as a black model was not available locally.
Peter had waited for over two months for a car that would meet the municipality's specifications.
In the midst of Makana's worst-ever financial crisis in 2013, almost R150 000 was spent on hired cars during this time – enough to buy a modest family sedan straight out the box.
He eventually received his Fortuner on 19 September 2013.
According to DA caucus leader and Ward 12 councillor, Brian Fargher, the amount billed for car hire was a culmination of multiple costs for the car which was hired over two to three months prior to the arrival of the Fortuner.
Fargher said it was inexplicable that the car took so long to arrive and he could not understand why a courtesy car was not provided by the dealership.
Another example of fruitless expenditure was the R1 217.52 for "traffic fine admin fees".
The officials involved in using municipal funds to pay off their traffic fines were Trevor Qupe, head of disaster management, fired municipal manager Pravine Naidoo and acting human resources manager, Unathi Nondzube.
ANC chief whip, Julia Wells, who is also the chairperson to the Public Accounts Committee, said the fines should not be paid by the municipality.
Acting municipal manager, Mandisi Planga, said that he could not comment on the mayoral car costs and other issues as it was before his time as municipal manager.
“What we have said is that we will cut costs on fuel, overtime and on catering and we have done that. We have cut fuel costs by 30% and overtime by 24%," said Planga.
The report also shows various events attended by municipal officials, costing large sums of money.
One event, signed off and organised by Likhaya Ngandi of the Makana Municipality Special Programmes Unit cost ratepayers R31 382 in accommodation fees for a one-day stay at the Graham Hotel.
The description for this cost was “people attending 500th radio soapie episode by Umhlobo Wenene”.
This was in October 2013, the same month Makana Municipality was unable to pay its employees.
Former Makana spokesperson, Mncedisi Boma, Ngandi and Naidoo cost the ratepayers R20 434 in accommodation, flights and car hire costs “visiting the Apartheid Museum, Freedom Park and Constitutional Court” for one day.
The sum of R20 725 was spent in accommodation at the Graham Hotel for employees attending a conference on “training for advanced administration skills for secretaries and administrators”.
Officials respond:
This article reported on Makana Municipality's Financial Quarterly Report at 31 December 2013.
The report was submitted to Council for noting at an ordinary council meeting held on 12 March 2014.
The article referred to "fruitless and unnecessary spending".
Because "fruitless" is an auditing term, our report may have created the impression that the spending reflected in the report had been judged negatively by officials from the Auditor General.
In fact, Grocott's Mail's article quoted terms used by sources within Council. The Municipality's report tabled in that meeting contained no official assessment or judgment.
The article also identified particular officials whose names appeared next to expenses itemised in the report.
While it may have been fair to highlight some of the spending items as appearing unusual or lacking in justification, it was unfair to name the individual officials concerned.
This may have given the impression that a) they were somehow implicated in illegal or corrupt activity or that b) they were mainly responsible for the entire amounts reflected in those sections of the report.
We acknowledge that in many cases officials recorded next to spending items are signatories in a supply chain process that requires several stages of approval.
Grocott's Mail emphasises that the Municipality's report does not in any way implicate Kuselo Qupe, Unathi Nondzube or Likhaya Ngandi in any untoward activity.
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