DA criminal charges against Municipal Managers who caused Eskom power cuts handed over to Hawks
24 December 2015
The Democratic Alliance will today lay criminal charges at the Jansenville Police Station against the acting Municipal Manager of Ikwezi Municipality, Mr V. Mapukata, for failure to pay long outstanding amounts owed to Eskom, despite having collected electricity revenue from consumers, including prepaid revenue.
This follows the DA laying criminal charges against the Municipal Managers of Gariep, Maletswai and Nxuba Municipalities too, for the same offenses.
These cases (CAS 108/12/2015 at Burgersdorp; CAS 130/12/2015 at Aliwal North; and CAS 48/12/2015 at Adelaide) have already been handed over to the Hawks for investigation.
As the accounting officers of their municipalities, the MM is the ultimate responsible official for ensuring watertight expenditure control, including timeous payment of creditors - but these Municipal Managers have neglected this duty and have caused Eskom to shut off power this week.
Therefore in terms of S173, read with s65(2) of the Municipal Finance Management Act these Municipal Managers must be criminally investigated for having broken the law.
It is only through continued DA pressure that an interim solution to the Eskom cut was found, and the Eastern Cape province has now bailed these municipalities out.
This is enough to keep the lights on, for now, but will not address the long-term financial viability of these municipalities, and will not guarantee that they will be able to meet their obligations to Eskom in the future. For this reason, an investigation must be undertaken into the criminal negligence of this financial mess.
Additionally, the DA challenges Minister van Rooyen and MEC Xasa to institute internal disciplinary action against these municipal managers who are failing in their fiduciary duties to the residents of their municipalities.
This is a first test for Minister Van Rooyen, and he can act to show he means business.
Statement issued by Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of COGTA, 24 December 2015
