SECUNDA – The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) visited Secunda on Wednesday, 11 April to explain the organisation’s strategy.
Residents contacted Outa to ask them to consider launching a branch in the Govan Mbeki municipal area.
Outa is a non-profit, non-political organisation that was formed in 2012 and focussed on the E-toll problems.
The organisation grew in 2016 when they began focussing on other government issues.
Outa’s CEO, Mr Wayne Duvenage, explained the organisation’s objectives in addressing maladministration at Govan Mbeki Municipality and about 100 residents attended the meeting.
Also watch:Â Video: Many residents attend Outa meeting in Secunda
Mr Duvenage said Outa has been working to putting structures in place for Secunda over the past 10 weeks and they are now ready to launch a branch in Secunda.
“The people who are responsible for maladministration in the municipality need to feel the pain in their personal capacity.
“We go to their bosses because they should know what is going on in their departments.
“If we can get at least 3 000 residents on board, we can make a change in this town.
“The strategy we use is to get the facts and use documents to build a case against people responsible for maladministration and corruption.
“We have seen many billionaires go to jail.
“However we are not here to do the local government’s work for them, we are here to make sure they do their jobs that they get paid for.
“If you break the law, you cannot expect not to face the consequences.”
Residents raised concerns that the municipality refused to leave money allocated for new cars for the mayor and municipal manager out of the budget and Mr Duvenage said if the municipality believes they will pay a lot of money for new cars, Outa will stop that.
He said as soon as the structure is ready, Outa will begin to take cases on regarding Govan Mbeki Municipality.
Mr Julius Kleynhans, manager at Outa, said if residents look at the trend of how things are escalating, they will notice that R1 billion of taxpayers’ money was used in local government and was lost due to maladministration and corruption.
“That money could have paid for 250km of new roads or to settle the debt with Eskom twice,” said Mr Kleynhans.
“The root and the cause of the problem is accountability.
“For years nobody at Govan Mbeki Municipality was held accountable for the problems with electricity and Eskom.
“We can help by holding the right people accountable, but it will take time.”
Mr Michael Holenstein, manager of Outa’s Local Government Initiative, said: “We were encouraged to see so many residents and business owners support the launch of Outa in Secunda.
“The overwhelming attendance demonstrated to us the need that exists in the community and the urgency in which poor governance must be addressed.
“The funds generated by the community in the Govan Mbeki municipal area will be used to ensure our operations address the direct mismanagement and corruption in the municipality and to cover legal costs.”
Business owners raised their concerns about protection from intimidation, an issue which Outa is sensitive about.
Mr Holenstein said: “We are familiar with the intimidation tactics of desperate individuals and we have taken every precaution to ensure the safety of whistle blowers and to protect the identity of our supporters.”
Outa will embark on the launch of another five Outa local branches over the next few weeks and they encouraged residents to visit their website at www.outa.co.za and their Facebook page OUTA: Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse.
To support Outa’s operations in Secunda and surrounding towns, SMS the word “Action” to 35005 and Outa’s team will contact you.
