Load shedding saves Limpopo mayor from grilling by committee

The mayor of the embattled Mogalakwena local municipality and her subordinates were yesterday saved by load shedding during a grilling by parliament’s portfolio committee on cooporative governance, led by former communications minister Faith Muthambi.

Muthambi, meanwhile, was accused by angry residents of Mogalakwena of hatching a plot to dent the image of their “hard-working mayor”, Andrina Matsemela.

In the Vhembe region last week, some councillors and section 57 managers from Makhado, Collins Chabane and Vhembe district municipalities also accused Muthambi of using the committee to settle political scores.

Muthambi brushed aside the allegations, saying she was only performing her duties as delegated by parliament.

Muthambi and members of her portfolio committee have been in Limpopo to test the rate of service delivery in municipalities that either invested in the collapsed VBS Mutual Bank, or those with poor audit outcomes for the 2018/19 financial year.

The committee has already visited Fetakgomo/Tubatse, Mopani district, Vhembe district, Collins Chabane, Makhado and Thabazimbi local municipalities.

In Mogalakwena, the committee heard that political infighting, tender collusion and failure to apply consequence management were the three main reasons why the municipality performed dismally in the last municipal audit.

The municipality received an unqualified audit opinion in 2013/2014, a disclaimer in 2014/15, another disclaimer in 2015/16, an adverse finding in 2016/17 and another adverse finding in 2017/18.

This despite being home to the world’s second-biggest platinum mine, with an annual budget of R1.3 billion.

The portfolio committee learnt that some lucrative municipal tenders in Mogalakwena were awarded to officials working in the municipality, tenders were awarded without passing the evaluation and adjudication processes, and bidders that did not score the highest points were awarded tenders.

The committee also learnt that the municipality has been operating for a number of years without full-time managers.

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