DA walks out of Madibeng budget in protest at ‘VBS-linked mayor’

The Democratic Alliance in Madibeng on Wednesday explained why they did not approve the budget that was tabled during a council meeting this week and walked out of the meeting.

“We can simply not be part of the mismanagement and poor governance that is taking place here. The people’s money is abused and wasted without any proper consequence management.”

Councillor Jan van Rhyn said the embattled municipality was on the brink of administration in terms of Section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution.

“An administrator will be appointed to take over the management and obligations of the municipality. Madibeng municipality has failed to maintain essential national standards or meet established minimum standards for the rendering of services in the municipality. The level of service delivery in Madibeng is currently not on par with the national standards.

“The administrator is still to be appointed. In light of the state of the municipality, it is simply reckless to approve a budget whereby the correct processes were not followed. We will not be part of an illegal process.”

The mayor was “simply missing in action” and neither attended the meeting nor did she table the budget as prescribed, alleged Van Rhyn.

He said Mayor Jostina Mothibe would need to answer for the municipality’s failures.

“She is part of the mayors who were supposedly relieved of their duties by the ANC for their municipalities investing with VBS Mutual Bank, and yet she still holds her position.

“We have lodged a complaint with the Public Protector against the Executive Mayor of Madibeng for the illegal appointment of the acting Municipal Manager, Mr P Raputsoa, in April this year.

“The municipality has been marred by mismanagement, corruption and service delivery is non-existent.”

He said raw sewage was being pumped into the Hartebeespoort Dam, and it had compromised the water quality for supply and crop irrigation.

“The Brits sewerage plant operates at only 40% of its capacity – thus releasing poor quality water into the Crocodile River.”

He alleged that Mothibi was serving her own interests and had spent R100,000 per month on a rental car for herself while her administration owed debtors such as Rand Water more than R45 million.

The Auditor-General (AG) found that in the 2016/2017 financial year R561.9 million was wasted in irregular expenditure. Fraudulent credit cards were also opened in the name of the Madibeng municipality and unauthorised monthly deductions were made from the municipality’s bank account.

“According to the AG report, these transactions were not identified by the municipality’s system of internal control, such as the monthly bank reconciliations.”

(Edited by Charles Cilliers)

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