Nkomazi residents angry at municipality
Community members accused the Nkomazi Local Municipality of nepotism and mismanagement of Covid-19 funds.
Approximately 100 residents voiced their dissatisfaction by staging a protest at the municipality’s head office in Malalane on Thursday, under heavy police presence.
The disgruntled community members’ spokesperson, Sifiso Silawule, accused the municipality of employing over 200 new workers without following proper procedures.
These claims were however rubbished by the council’s spokesman, Cyril Ripinga, who argued that these posts were in fact advertised last year and meant to be filled early in the year, but the procedure was delayed by the outbreak of Covid-19 and the lockdown.
“It is very unfortunate that only a few people chose not to remember, but these posts were indeed advertised last year and we received a number of applications. After that process we shortlisted candidates and unfortunately when we were about to start with the interviews we had to stop because of Covid-19. It is only now on level 1 that we started with the process and people were called in and interviewed. We understand the frustration of our community because of the unemployment rate, but that does not mean they can make allegations that are wild and unfounded,” said Ripinga.
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“There are allegations that R27 million meant for the Covid-19 relief programmes went missing from the municipality,” said Sifiso Silawule. “These are serious allegations that they are making, but as you would know that this matter is sub judice. The Hawks visited our offices and confiscated documents and files and we cannot respond on their behalf.”
“We are waiting for them to finish their investigation and give us a report. We appreciate that they came and we also want closure on that issue because we cannot have that case hanging over our heads forever. We still want to know what the findings were, and it has always been the municipality’s standpoint that if there are people in the wrong they must be held accountable.”
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“But the truth of the matter is that we know nothing of any missing funds, and we don’t know of any R27 million that we have ever received from any government institution for Covid-19 relief,” explained Ripinga.
