In a dramatic turn of events, the Ventersdorp acting CFO says he did recover the R50 000 that the Special Investigation Unit report claimed that he failed to report, reverse or recover from a subcontractor who was overpaid.
Although the Herald requested a response from the municipal manager, the aggrieved Kgosietsile Kgosiemang says the article in last week’s Herald is inaccurate and untrue and he wants to tell his side of the story. He plans to challenge the SIU report and the defamatory statements that have threatened his dignity, reputation and good name.
Kgosiemang admits that the subcontractor was overpaid by R50 000 on 26 May 2010. At that time, the main contractor was appointed to do certain work for the municipality and then subcontracted another company to do the work.
“When the subcontractor submitted the invoice for the work done for Ventersdorp Municipality, they received a payment of R166 280 instead of R 116 280. I immediately notified the main contractor that the municipality would recover the overpayment on submission of their subsequent invoice for the same project.
The documents that he submitted to the Herald show that the main contractor submitted their final invoice amounting to R87 225,96 on 7 May 2012. On Wednesday, 16 May 2012 an electronic payment of R 37 225,96 was paid into the FNB account of the contractor and a copy of the proof of payment is available.
“The underpayment of R50 000 was, in fact, to balance the overpayment error,” he concluded.
Kgosimang also objected to the allegations that he did not follow the correct process to procure a laptop, said to be worth R28 000.
“Staff of the IT department requested and obtained four quotations on my behalf. The lowest was an amount of R 22 499, 80. The actual cost incurred to procure the laptop was R 16 999. 90. The software program ‘Microsoft Office Home and Business Program 2016’ was supplied for an amount of R5 000 as per the quote. The laptop bag was supplied at R 499, 90, also as per quote. The municipality ought to have recovered the VAT amount of R 2 763, 13 at the end of March 2016. This has inevitably resulted in the price dropping to even below R20 000,” he said.
“The total amount that the Municipality paid for a laptop for my everyday use is fair, necessary and reasonable and can, under no circumstances, be classified as fruitless and wasteful expenditure or irregular expenditure,” he concluded.
