DA opens criminal case with the Hawks against Bojanala Mayor over R134 million “erroneous” payment
14 September 2020
Note to Editors: Find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by DA National Council of Provinces Delegate, Carìn Visser.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday opened a case (Case number 355/9/2020) under the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act (No 12 of 2004) against the Bojanala District Municipality’s Executive Mayor, Fetsang Molosiwa, former Municipal Manager, Pogisho Shikwane and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Leslina Ndlovu for their alleged involvement in the utilisation of a supposedly “erroneous payment” of R134 million. The payment was earmarked for the Rustenburg Local Municipality, but was “mistakenly” made to Bojanala by the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) in 2019.
During a presentation before the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) recently, a forensic report (attached) released on the matter, contained condemning findings on the irregular expenditure of the R134 million that was meant for the Rustenburg Municipality.
Mayor Molosiwa placed it on record that she was under the impression that the funds were transferred to the Rustenburg Local Municipality as per the instruction of the Department of COGHSTA, but due to “party matters” requiring her attention elsewhere, she failed to monitor this process.
The report stated that several service providers were irregularly appointed and paid from the R134 million. An amount of R20,074,900.00 was paid for the desludging of septic tanks, R15, 207,740.00 was paid for catering and events management, another R8,654,
The companies who received the payments should also be investigated to determine whether there are any political links that may have secured them the contracts and whether any of the services was, in fact, rendered.
The fact that there were no checks and balances in place and no proper internal controls within the Department of COGHSTA to prevent this ‘erroneous’ payment, calls for further investigation and severe consequence management measures to be instituted for officials involved.
It has become the norm for administrative staff to bear the brunt for malfeasance in North West municipalities, while politicians who have failed in their oversight role and often abuse political power that leads to corruption, remains untouched.
We will write to the Chairperson of the NCOP, China Dodovu, requesting him to summon the former MM, CFO, Motlalepula Rosho, who was MEC for Department of COGHSTA at the time and the officials who were involved in this transaction, to give clarity on the sequence of events that led to the irregular expenditure of this “erroneous” payment.
Issued by Carìn Visser, DA North West NCOP Delegate, 14 September 2020
