The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo filed a complaint with the Public Protector on Monday after the Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality recently, in what is considered wasteful expenditure, spent R11 million on a cemetery site.
Jacques Smalle DA Provincial Leader, says in a media release that the municipality initially spent over R9,5 million for a new cemetery site in Lebowakgomo, which is a wasteful expenditure as the construction could have cost way less. “To compound the matter, the municipality requested an additional R1,5 million to finish the project which will see it escalate to a staggering R11 million.”
According to Smalle, the money was paid to a contractor to build an administration block, a guard room, the construction of a fence, drilling of a borehole, an ablution block, water tank and a tarred road that leads to the cemetery. Smalle reckons that the project should not have cost more than R3 million and says that it is clear that all the prices were grossly inflated by a contractor to loot the public coffers instead of accelerating service delivery.
“The DA urges the Public Protector to establish investigations on this fruitless and wasteful expenditure and ensure that the public coffers are not looted by the connected few but towards service delivery.
Spokesperson for the municipality, Mokgadi Maubane said that Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality remains committed to transparent governance and financial viability. “The municipality always subjects itself to the relevant checks and balances including the Municipal Public Accounts Committee and internal and external audit. Therefore, with specific reference to the expenditure on the Lebowakgomo cemetery, the money spent will be subjected to auditing processes and if there was indeed value for money. The expenditure is accessible to the public through the audited annual financial statements as part of the annual report,” Maubane said and added that the municipality has so far sufficiently disclosed physical and financial progress on the construction of the cemetery. “Therefore, if there is any party feeling that they still require more information in this regard, they can request such through the Promotion of Access to Information Act processes,” Maubane concluded.
Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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