Millions missing again in Sekhukhune district municipality

Sekhukhune district municipality in Limpopo is in the midst of yet another controversy, with the cash-strapped institution seemingly being turned into a cash cow for shady officials – but this time they have managed to recover the money.

The embattled municipality last week announced that officials have yet again transferred millions into a wrong account, after two similar incidents were recently disclosed. In August, a total of R2.2 million was wrongly paid into the account of a service provider on contract with the municipality.

“We can confirm that there has been an irregular payment to the service provider,” mayor Stanley Ramaila said yesterday.

“But it must be clear that the money has since been paid back to the municipal account after the service provider alerted us.” Ramaila said it was a double payment to the service provider, “who immediately notified us”.

“Council has since instructed our acting municipal manager to issue letters of intention to suspend all officials who were involved in the wrong payment.”

The municipality has been rocked by numerous financial scandals that saw the council failing to meet some of its financial obligations, such as completion of projects. In 2018, it lost R5.4 million after officials wrongly transferred the money into the accounts of several businesses.

The transfer was done at the time the mayor was on a trip to China with premier Stan Mathabatha. About R3.5 million was later traced after investigations by the Hawks and other law enforcement agencies.

Five officials from the information and technology, finance and expenditure departments were suspended. One has since resigned and three are back at work.

“The case involving the fifth, a deputy CFO, is still pending,” the municipality said yesterday.

In 2019, the municipality discovered about R12 million was missing from the municipal purse. The money was also transferred into a wrong account by officials.

This has since led to citizens and politicians calling for the department of cooperative governance, human settlement and traditional affairs and the ANC in Limpopo to intervene and take swift action. MEC for corporate governance Basikop Makamu said he was visiting the municipality this week.

“We cannot sit on our laurels and watch when thugs proved to us beyond any reasonable doubt that they mean business. I want to check how far they have gone in trying to recoup the money. I also want to check what action they have taken.”

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