POLOKWANE – DA Councillor in the municipality, David Setjie, says this luxurious splurge is outrageous for an ANC politician, while people in the Capricorn district live in poverty and face growing unemployment under an “increasingly uncaring ANC government”.
Spokesperson for the DA, America Ngwepe, says the charge was laid on Friday.
“We will now wait for the next few months for the outcome of the investigation and we will follow the recommendation that they give us and take it further from there,” Ngwepe said. He went on to say that the money being used to rent the car can be used for more important things such as education or sanitation which could benefit many people in the area.
On Monday, the DA also opened an investigation with the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) into the R7,6 billion wasteful and irregular spending by Limpopo Government over the last three years, as highlighted in the most recent Auditor-General report.
“Today I handed over a 1 000-page dossier to the Special Investigative Unit for various statutory contraventions including possible fraudulent tenders. The SIU agreed to begin a preliminary investigation, upon which they will report to the president,” says Jacques Smalle MPL, DA Limpopo Leader.
“This comes after the Limpopo Government has failed for the past three years to investigate and take action arising out of the R7,6 billion in irregular, unauthorised and fruitless and wasteful expenditure found against it by the Auditor–General over the last three financial years. The Limpopo Government has simply sat on its hands while billions of public money has disappeared down the drain.”
In the SIU complaint, Smalle details how the Limpopo government has contravened financial regulations and failed to apply or enforce consequence management at the Standing Committee for Public Accounts (Scopa) with regards to the R7,6 billion. The Limpopo government must be taken to task for failing to properly crack down internally on this gross misspending, Smalle said.
“Our dossier, which includes Auditor-General’s management reports and other financials, also names and shames individuals, and exposes the stubborn ineptitude of the Limpopo government to hold responsible officials, heads of departments and MEC’s as well as the administrators of Limpopo’s Section 100 intervention to full account. I welcome that the SIU has confirmed their commitment to investigate the matter and to forward their preliminary findings to the president for consideration and proclamation of an investigation in the Government Gazette.”
According to Smalle, the DA has a responsibility to ensure provincial government upholds the rule of law and to challenge the gross malfeasance by public officials in the use of state resources.
At the time of going to print, the Department of Treasury had not commented on the matter.
The Spokesperson for CDM, Moffat Senyatsi, said the municipality was unaware of the complaint, but would comment on the matter in due course.
