Sedibeng Mayor Lerato Maloka. Picture: Gallo Images/Sowetan/Veli Nhlapo
The top three members of the Sedibeng District Municipal Council have used petrol worth around R550 000 to carry out their duties during the 2023/24 financial year.
The Citizen has seen financial statements from the municipality indicating that Mayor of Sedibeng Lerato Maloka had used petrol worth R238 000.
Moipone Modikeng, Speaker of Council, had used petrol worth R167 000 while the whip of council had used R148 000.
Maloka has been described as one of the most “spoilt” mayors in Gauteng.
In 2022 the municipality purchased a Mercedez-Benz GLB worth R696 611 but she refused to use it because it did not come with her preferred specifications.
The car was later damaged while not in use after foreign particles were found in its petrol tank.
According to the financial statements, the fuel was spent on the mayor’s Mercedes-Benz E250, Mercedes-Benz GLB 250 and VW Polo Sedan 1.4 that accompanies her security detail.
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The fuel was also used for the speaker’s BMW X1 and a VW Polo sedan that accompanies her.
The council whip drives a Toyota Fortuna and has a VW Polo Sedan 1.4 as a pool car.
DA MPL and Emfuleni constituency head Kingsol Chabalala described the amount of money spent on fuel as “ridiculous”.
Chabalala called for an investigation into the fuel spent by the mayor, speaker, and whip of council.
“There is something wrong here. They drive different cars but the fuel consumption is almost the same.”
He said the fuel figures were “outrageous” for a financially struggling municipality.
“It seems there is a constant abuse of resources by those that are in power.”
Dirk Kotze, a political analyst from the University of South Africa (Unisa), says smaller municipalities like Sedibeng are struggling because of fewer economic opportunities and an aged population.
He said in most instances these municipalities can’t afford to employ professionals who would be found in metros such as Johannesburg and Pretoria.
“The individual smaller municipalities simply cannot afford the specialists that they need. Many of them cannot afford engineers and financial specialists.”
Last week Friday The Citizen reached out to the spokesperson of the municipality, Saviour Kgaswane, for comment. There was still no response from Kgaswane at the time of publication.
“Please note that I have forwarded the media query to the relevant offices for reply,” he said.
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