The DA has filed a complaint with the office of the Public Protector to probe Vhembe District Municipality after discovering that over R1.2 billion was incurred and regarded as unauthorised, irregular and fruitless expenditure and cannot be accounted for whilst the residents are still struggling to get basic services from the municipality on a daily basis.
These exorbitant figures are contained in the Auditor General’s (AG ) report released in December 2018 and all these issues happened under the former Mayor, Florence Radzilani who is also implicated in the VBS debacle and resigned as a result.
The DA can confirm that the municipality has incurred R486 million in irregular expenditure , R640 million in unauthorised expenditure and R17 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure in 2016 /2017 financial year and no steps were taken to recoup the money.
Furthermore , the municipality is a defendant in various legal claims amounting to over R350 million and losing R68 million on water due to poor infrastructure assets.
AG has also confirmed that they invested R800 million into the VBS mutual bank and it was in contravention of municipal investment regulations section 6.
Some of the issues which were identified by the AG include the following :
• The municipality does not have measures in place to maintain records of cash and cash equivalents;
• All the financial statements submitted for auditing were not prepared with all the materials in accordance with the requirement of Section 122(1) of the MFMA;
• All payment made from the municipal bank accounts were done without the approval of the accounting officer;
• No steps were taken to prevent any further irregular, wasteful , unauthorised expenditure as required by Section 65(2) of the MFMA;
• Many contracts were awarded to bidders who did not submit a declaration on whether they are employed by state or not; and
• Contractors’ performances were not monitored on a monthly basis.
It is clear that besides the VBS scandal, the municipality’s financial affairs are in distress which needs an urgent investigation.
Notwithstanding the fact that Radzilani has resigned as the Mayor, the DA believes that she should be held accountable for the VBS scandal and the R2.2 billion which cannot be accounted for.
The municipality is being used as a cash cow for the connected officials and politicians whilst the majority of our people continue to suffer under the ANC led government.
The uncaring ANC is responsible for South Africa not realising their dreams due to corruption , poverty and empty promises.
The DA urges the Public Protector to accelerate the investigation on the matter and ensure that not only should the implicated individuals pay back the money but they should end up in jail.
Under a DA government the people’s hard earned money will always be used to build One South Africa for All and to ensure the speedy delivery of services.
Media Enquiries
Jacques Smalle
DA Limpopo Premier Candidate
083 392 3334