Pretoria - The ANC in Gauteng has called for heads to roll in the wake of the Auditor-General (AG)’s 2018/19 municipal report, which painted the City of Tshwane’s performance in a bad light.
The recent report showed the City incurred R5 billion irregular and fruitless expenditure.
Regional ANC spokesperson Bafuze Yabo said City manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola must be suspended with immediate effect.
“The City manager is still employed in the midst of all these findings by the AG and other allegations that he improperly used Council funds to fight his legal battles,” Yabo said.
The ANC also slated the DA-led administration for spending a mere 50% of its R4bn Capex budget. “This means that R2bn was not spent, denying residents new infrastructure such as water reservoirs, houses, electricity and sanitation.” He blamed the disappointing performance on what he termed “the nefarious DA/EFF coalition”.
The EFF, on the other hand, said the underspending of R4bn has been a trend, which started in 2016 by former mayor Solly Msimanga.
Party regional leader MoAfrika Mabogwana said: “The DA is more obsessed with having clean audits to the extent of compromising service delivery.”
He criticised what he called “the cozy relationship between the DA and the ANC”.
He blamed both parties for voting together to sell municipal land in Sunnyside and revising the budget downwards by R100 million during last week’s council sitting.
Stevens Mokgalapa said he was not going to tolerate irregular expenditure under his watch.
Mayoral spokesperson Norman Mohale said Mokgalapa believed the bulk of the irregular expenditure must be attributed to infrastructure projects implemented by the ANC municipality.
He said such projects included the pre-paid smart meter electricity contract awarded to Peu Capital Partners in 2013. The contract was nullified by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
The projects accounted for at least R3bn of expenditure flagged by the AG.
Mohale said it would be unfair to sacrifice Mosola for the wrongs committed by other people. “It won’t be fair to pin it on the person who came after those projects.”