The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Office of the Public Protector to investigate the Mayor of Molemole Local Municipality, Edward Mashilo Paya, for abuse of power.
This follows after the DA received information that Mayor Paya sent 3 municipal officials with municipal service vehicles to a farm close to the Full Moon Lodge outside Soekmekaar to clear land for planting crops.
During this illicit project on a farm owned by a close friend of Mayor Paya, which lasted from 1 to 30 March 2022, two graders were damaged and a truck was involved in an accident. (See photos here, here and here)
The Mayor’s actions now affects service delivery as there are no functioning graders to work on the gravel roads in the municipality.
We believe that Mayor Paya’s behavior has compromised the credibility and the integrity of the municipality that he was supposed to oversee.
Such blatant abuse of power and misuse of municipal resources is just another example of how the ANC abuses public office for political and personal gain.
We will await the recommendations of the Public Protector as we believe that there is simply no more room for maladministration in government.