BREAKING NEWS – DA raises Tubatse land deal with Scopa

Earlier today (Friday) the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo approached the Chairperson of the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) to summon Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) MEC Makoma Makhurupetje along with officials from her department, Greater Tubatse Municipality, Provincial Treasury and the Housing Development Agency (HDA) to account for the suspect purchase of unoccupied land in Tubatse at a cost of R116,5 million.
In a media statement on an issue that has made headlines the past week, DA Provincial Leader Jacques Smalle stressed that the DA had noted that Makhurupetje has now referred the case to the Hawks for an investigation and said they believed that the media hype forced her to do so as the purchase was made in 2015.
“If MEC Makhurupetje was serious about fighting corruption in her department, investigations would have been conducted long before it was picked up by the Auditor General who declared the purchase as fruitless expenditure.
“The DA believes that the money wasted in this peculiar purchase could have been utilised towards service delivery and improving the lives of Tubatse residents by creating more employment and fighting poverty in the area.
‘Where the DA governs citizens already receive value for money. The DA-led coalition government in Modimolle-Mookgophong Municipality is currently building new serviced RDP houses on purchased land in Mookgophong and Vaalwater, and 533 RDP houses in Ward 4 (Mookgophong) will soon receive water and sewer connections.”
In conclusion Smalle said the DA would vigorously investigate all the evidence presented before the committee and urge Scopa to recommend compelling sanctions that would not exclude criminal proceedings against any wrongdoers.

Story: YOLANDE NEL
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