The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo remains deeply concerned about the lack of cost containment measures by municipalities at a time when fiscal prudence is a national priority.
In response to a written question posed by the DA, the MEC for COGHSTA, Basikopo Makamu, revealed that municipalities not only have luxury vehicles for the exclusive use of mayors, speakers and in some instances chief whips, but that these office bearers are being chauffeured by drivers, at great cost to the tax payers
- Fetagkgomo Tubatse- the mayor, speaker and chief whip are driven around this rural municipality in a BMW X5, BMW X3 and BMW and BMW 320I. R3663 748.96 was paid for these luxury vehicles in 2023 and each of the 3 drivers earn R393 916.30 per year
- Musina municipality- spent R1293 334.24 on 2 Toyota Fortuners and spend just under R1 million for 2 drivers per year
- Elias Motsoaledi- The mayor and speaker each have a luxury BMW vehicle at a cost of R3.3 million and 2 drivers each earn R389 709.30 per year
- Tzaneen: In defiance of the municipality’s cost containment policy, a new R500 00 vehicle was purchased for the chief whip this year and a new driver position created. There are now 3 official vehicles and the mayor’s driver earns a whopping R812 984.75 per year.
Rural municipalities are reliant on national government to finance their budgets but overspending on operational budgets and underspend on capital and infrastructure projects continue unabated.
In MEC Makamu’s response, it was noted that 12 municipalities did not disclose the information requested by his office; this is a deemed refusal and a total disregard for the MEC’s oversight responsibilities over municipalities.
We will write to MEC Makamu to request that action be taken against non-complaint municipalities and that transparency be enforced
The ANC-led Councils’ reckless disregard for cost containment amidst a whole sale collapse of infrastructure across the province cannot be tolerated; there will be consequences for self -serving cadres through the ballot in next year’s elections