The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the North West, said it is appalled by high levels of corruption and impunity at some municipalities in the province.
The union cited the Bojanala Platinum District and Ratlou Local Municipalities, saying that the corruption allegations are shocking, adding that some of these municipalities are dysfunctional.
The union’s comments follow weekend reports that the Bojanala Municipality allegedly spent about R134 million that was erroneously transferred into the municipality account in 2019.
According to the forensic investigation into the R134 million, the money was supposed to be transferred into the bank account of the Rustenburg Local Municipality for disaster relief projects.
But it has since emerged that the money was instead diverted to pay for dubious municipal services, including some which were never rendered or were unrelated to the municipality core business.
COSATU Provincial Secretary Kopano Konopi however said he is not surprised that taxpayer’s money was abused and alleges that some politicians are involved in the said corruption and called for the forensic report to be made public.
“For now, let me not divulge the names of the politicians that are in the report, but we would want the municipality to release the report publicly, so that the community will know who is implicated.
This is taxpayers’ money, and the residents deserve the truth.
The report implicates some of the former mayors both at the Rustenburg Local and Bojanala District Municipalities,” said Konopi who was speaking on YouFM News Hour.
The scandal has seen the suspension of the Bojanala Municipality Manager Letlhogonolo Fourie, for defying the council’s decision “not to pay any company that has a case pending in court until such a case has been finalised.”
“It hasn’t been a year since the Municipal Manager was hired, but he has been suspended.
His predecessor is one of the people who were recently arrested including the Chief Financial Officer and service providers for irregularly awarding a tender to the same service providers who allegedly did not even do the work,” added Konopi.
He applauded the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement, and Traditional Affairs, for seconding an acting Municipal Manager to the municipality.
But he stressed that the manager must be given space to do his administration and operations, while politicians provide oversight support.
Meanwhile, Konopi also called for the reopening of the Moss Phakoe murder trial.
The former councillor and whistleblower were shot and killed outside his home in 2009, after he handed over a document detailing corruption at the Rustenburg Municipality.
Former Mayor Matthew Wolmarans and his then bodyguard Enoch Matshaba were found guilty and sentenced for Phakoe murder.
But they later successfully challenged their conviction at the Supreme Court of Appeal, after key state witness Emmanuel Masoka recanted his evidence.
Konopi however say the charges must be reinstated,
“According to reports, it was mentioned that Emmanuel Masoka, was found guilty of perjury, which resulted in the release of some people who were allegedly involved in Phakoe’s murder.
What we’re saying is that those who were found guilty and acquitted because of false information, then that conviction must be reinstated, and those people must go back to jail.
We believe that the justice system and National Prosecuting Authority is failing the Phakoe family,” lamented Konopi.
He said they’ll soon meet with the tripartite alliance partners, to address some of the concerns about dysfunctional municipalities and corruption.