Durban - THE AmaJuba District mayor has allegedly amassed an estimated R10 million security bill for armed security guards, weapons and a back-up vehicle, without following the proper procedures.
The EFF and the IFP claimed that Dr Musa Ngubane’s security detail had been procured through deviations from the supply chain management policy since his rise to the mayoral position in 2016. The parties now want the spending to be investigated.
According to a supply chain management monthly report dated December 2019, and tabled at the Joint Finance and Corporate Services Portfolio Committee meeting on Friday, the municipality spent R1114416.67 on physical security services for mayoral bodyguards from September to date.
The city deviated from the supply chain management processes because of the nature of the required services and there was already an appointed preferred company for the job.
“From 2016, we have not seen the threat analysis report because none was done, yet council is using Section 36 for the mayor’s security detail,” said Mncedisi Msibi, EFF chief whip in the municipality.
“We found the scope of bodyguards has been increased, breaching the circular that dictates that councillors should not have more than two guards. If you calculate the amount spent and date it back to 2016, it goes over R10m, and we can’t have that at the expense of the struggling people in the area,” said Msibi.
The money, according to the report, was for VIP protection services, hire of a back-up vehicle, two armed additional mayoral bodyguards/drivers, one rifle and two armed security guards for the mayoral residence.
Thami Nzuza, IFP chief whip in the municipality, said Ngubane should be suspended pending the investigation into the spending.
“The mayor needs to come forward and explain how the security tender processes were done and which company benefited from these millions. It is said that mayor Ngubane has more than four security personnel with him daily plus two that are securing his house.
“Since when must the municipality pay for the mayor’s home security? This is very shocking and a huge insult to the people of AmaJuba as they are drowning in poverty while one man has security that is worth so much of the taxpayers’ money,” Nzuza said.
He said this required an urgent intervention by local government watchdogs, and that the establishment of a task team to handle the investigation would be proper.
DA councillor Bertie Meiring said they had written to the municipality’s chief executive officer for a detailed report on how the money was accumulated.
“There is no mayoral vehicle and from 2016 they have been hiring and the spending has been getting too high. We have a concern and we will scrutinise the response from the CEO,” Meiring said.
Ngubane referred the reporter to the municipal manager, Sipho Zwane, who said this was a ploy to mislead the community and tarnish Ngubane’s name.
“The municipality, as part of the implementation of its Financial Recovery Plan and the Cost Containment measures, has identified issues such as the cost of security and water tankers as major cost-drivers. To this effect, plans are under way to ensure that the budget that is allocated to these areas is drastically reduced. The mayor, as the political head, is championing this process,” Zwane said.