R2 million of the people's money wasted on trip to Columbia that never happened
11 December 2018
The DA has requested the Municipal Manager of eThekwini Municipality, Sipho Nzuza, to conduct an urgent investigation into R2 million of the people's money being wasted on a Council-approved overseas trip that went horribly wrong.
The eThekwini Council approved a request from the eThekwini Traffic Authority (ETA) to send a delegation of 59 people to Colombia to assess the public transport system in that country.
The aim of the trip was to encourage local bus and taxi operators to buy into the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN) currently being rolled out in the city. The Democratic Alliance opposed the proposal saying that it would be wasteful expenditure and that the same thing could be achieved for far less than R2 million.
Shockingly, the delegation never made it to Colombia despite R2 million being spent. The eThekwini Municipality failed to obtain the visas required to enter Colombia and were stranded in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Upon their departure for Sao Paulo to Colombia, Brazillian officials stopped the delegation who did not have the correct documents to proceed. The delegation to Colombia was led by Head of ETA Thami Manyathi.
Manyathi and the other officials scrambled to make a plan as the delegation had no food and no accommodation planned in Brazil. Sources in the municipality say that between R400 000 and R500 000 in additional funding was requested from the city in order to pay for the unplanned stay in Brazil. There is no indication of how this money was approved or who approved it.
Tempers flared in the airport as the operators spent 24 hours waiting for answers from city officials. The delegation was forced to spend a "holiday" in Brazil with many of the operators taking time to visit malls and bars until their return flight to South Africa.
To date, no report has been received nor has a debrief with operators and officials taken place.
In addition, the bus and taxi operators are demanding that the original trip to Colombia be replanned.
The Democratic Alliance believes there needs to be a thorough investigation into the matter and that someone must be held accountable.
This is not a small mistake like forgetting to pay your parking ticket. Millions of rands have been wasted. Taxpayers in the city cannot continuously bankroll the rapidly spiraling state of the highly politicized administration in the city, this trip was controversial to begin with. It is no surprise that once again ratepayers will have to foot the bill. The residents of eThekwini deserve full transparency.
The city has a serious problem when it comes to consequence management.
This news comes in the wake of more troubles with the R3 billion bus systems that has yet to be completed or come online.
The Democratic Alliance is committed to speeding up the delivery of basic services in KZN.
Building a better future for South Africans means some changes need to be made. EThekwini cannot continue to spend money frivolously and have nobody held to account. A vote for the ANC is a vote for more empty promises. It doesn’t matter who leads them, they’re the same old party and they’ve had too many second chances in eThekwini.
Issued by Chris Pappas, DA eThekwini Councillor, 11 December 2018
