Alleged rampant theft at district municipality in Limpopo

The theft of R19.6 million at a Sekhukhune district municipality in Limpopo, allegedly by municipal officials, has resulted into the fraud and corruption-ravaged council regressing in last year’s audits.

The council has incurred a total of R269 million in irregular and unauthorised expenditure.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has last week called on municipal boss Mpho Mofokeng and municipal mayor Stan Ramaila to fire all those accused in the disappearance of municipal funds.

The latest audit outcome is the worst after the embattled institution managed to secure unqualified audit opinions in five consecutive years since 2014.

DA caucus leader in the municipality Solomon Maila said according to records revealed during a council sitting last week, the municipality incurred more than R194 million of unauthorised expenditure between July 2018 and June 2019. This, he said, was mainly because of the escalating fraud and corruption in the municipality.

“According to the Auditor-General’s report, some contracts were awarded to politically connected people without due processes being followed,” Maila said.

He added municipal officials were apparently depositing millions into the wrong bank accounts.

The moves were ostensibly or deliberately acts of corruption, which cost the municipality more than R21 million since 2019.

“In addition, the municipality further incurred more than R74 million in irregular expenditure mainly due to non-compliance with supply chain management regulations. In some cases, contracts were awarded without being adjudicated, while others were awarded to bidders other than those recommended by the bid evaluation committee,” he said.

Spokesperson for the municipality Moloko Moloto said the accounting officer had already been advised to take action against officials who were involved in the disappearance of the money.

“Regarding the unauthorised and irregular expenditures, goods and services were provided.

However, we acknowledge that this is serious financial misconduct and we undertake to take disciplinary action in no time against those implicated,” said Moloto.

– alexm@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.