By Gcina Ntsaluba
The Makana Citizens Front (MCF) is demanding full transparency and accountability from the Executive Mayor’s Office after two hired luxury vehicles were damaged in separate recent incidents.
Chairman of MCF, Lungile Mxube, said the hiring of a Volvo SUV and a BMW constitutes an irregular, wasteful, and unauthorized expenditure in terms of Section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), Act No 56 of 2003.
“The Mayor is at the centre of causing institutional chaos and paralysis, and instead of curbing wasteful and irregular expenditure, the Mayor is encouraging abuse of taxpayers,” said Mxube. “We are of the view that the Mayor is no longer fit to lead the city.”
Meanwhile, the Speaker for the Makana Local Municipality Council, Mthuthuzeli Mabhuti Matyumza, has defended the mayor, saying that she was not in the wrong. He said while the mayor was involved in both accidents, one of them also involved the Municipal Manager, the Speaker and other officials.
He said: “It was not even 20 minutes after we had left the meeting I received a call from the Mayor that she was involved in a car accident on the N2. We immediately went to the scene to find a car in the middle of the road with the driver drunk. The Mayor managed to pull the car off the road.” Matyumza said a case was opened at the police station, and the police arrested the drunk driver.
In the other incident, the Mayor was coming from Qonce when the accident happened near Peddie. “The Mayor reported the incident to me, and we immediately informed the insurance company,” he said.
Matyumza could not give details of how much the two accidents cost the municipality. “At this stage, I cannot give the details in terms of cost as you will notice that both cars were rental cars and they were insured as well. For that reason, the insurance company has embarked on their investigation, and we can only confirm once they conclude,” Matyumza said.
