Treasury letters allegedly ignored

A Limpopo municipal council has allegedly decided to defy an order by Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha and the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) to take action against officials and politicians alleged to have invested municipal millions of rands into the collapsed VBS Mutual Bank.

In March last year, the Limpopo provincial treasury wrote letters to municipalities in the province which had invested
money in the bank.

The letters advised action be taken against municipal officials and politicians who had a hand in investing municipal funds into the bank.

About 16 municipalities in Limpopo, Gauteng and North West invested R1.57 billion in the bank.

The investments were later deemed illegal as they were in contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act.

Ten of the municipalities are from Limpopo, two from Gauteng and four from North West.

“We sent letters to all the implicated municipalities irrespective of whether they acted in good faith, gained profit or lost money.

“This is because all of them have contravened the regulations,” said Limpopo provincial treasury spokesperson Thulane Thwala on Tuesday.

Thwala said some municipalities had not acted since receiving the letter in March last year.

Two years ago, Mathabatha and Limpopo ANC provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane fired seven mayors from municipalities which invested with VBS bank.

The Thulamela Youth Council in the Vhembe region claims the letter had been ignored.

“They failed to bring the item to council since last year. Instead, they gave us the runaround because they don’t want to name and shame their own political comrades ahead of the elective conference,” Thulamela youth council coordinator Kenny Mulovhedzi told The Citizen.

Mayor for the Thulamela municipality Avhashoni Tshifhango dismissed claims by the league, saying: “The municipality was not aware of such a letter from the Treasury.”

– news@citizen.co.za

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