The newly appointed Deputy Mayor of the City of Tshwane Nasipha Moya has asked for forgiveness after confirming allegations by the EFF that she had received money to the tune of R10 000 after purporting to be going on a work trip.
It has since emerged that Moya, then a Chief of Staff in the mayor’s office ( Steven Mokgapa was the mayor at the time) did not take the already paid for flight to Saudi Arabia after the municipality financed it to the tune of R 167000 excluding the pocket money.
On Monday Moya admitted to every part the allegations but was also at pains to explain that she merely had a “ lapse of judgment and ended up forgetting.
Moya on Monday visited the municipality’a projects and encountered and a handful of angry EFF supporters who want her fired and journalists.
“The money was paid into the account a week before I pulled out of the trip. Now during that time obviously there was a lot of chaos in the city and there was a lapse of judgment on my part. The city also obviously never followed up and so there was never a refusal to return the money. When I left the city four months Later obviously that didn’t move up the priority list, said Moya who was recently appointed to newly created position to reward her party Action SA.
In its criticism of Moya the EFF said her failure to return the R10 000 means given an opportunity she would steal more given an opportunity and that the mere creation of the position points to a coalition government that is willing to spend public funds to manage what the EFF believes to be political factions.
Moya said she is ready to pay back the money and that her actions were not deliberate.
“That was four years ago. There was a lapse of judgement during that time. Obviously when I left the city I moved on with life and this has never an issue. So when it was raised with me I had to recollect what happened four years ago and the moment I remembered what happened I said it to all the stakeholders that there’s no issue with paying back the money. Of course I apologise for the lapse in judgement,” she said as she apologised.
At least one political analyst believes the matter is bigger than the two amounts of R 1767 000 and R10 000 lost due to the. Jamie Mightie said Moya’s credibility is in on the line.
“It is insufficient to say that you know she never got to paying the money and it is insufficient to simply say she’s willing to participate in an investigation now available or that it was a lapse of judgment. There are serious ethical concerns that speak to the nature of her leadership as somebody who took an amount of money for a specific purpose, did not use it for that specific purpose but also did not return it but also someone who accepted a trip and then did not take that particular trip. The EFF is not incorrect to raise this matter because it is pertinent,” said Mightie.