DA wants Ba-Phalaborwa municipal manager suspended

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo is accusing municipal authorities of awarding tenders fraudulently and wants Municipal Manager Maite Moakamela suspended.

This after an Auditor General’s report that said that the Ba-Phalaborwa municipality has spent close to R300 million in unauthorized, wasteful and fruitless expenditure in the 2016/17 financial year.

DA Councillor Sybrandt de Beer says maladministration is rife in the procurement section of the municipality.

De Beer says, “The municipality has been awarding tenders without them being advertised while those under R200 000 were procured without price quotations according to the AG’s report. Some of the quotations were acceptable from prospective providers who were not on the list of prospective providers. It’s clear that the municipality has been turned into a corrupt hub despite huge service delivery backlog in the municipality.”

The DA is also calling for the immediate suspension of Moakamela after the municipality incurred R153 million of irregular expenditure, R122 million of unauthorized expenditure and R13 million of wasteful and fruitless expenditure.

The municipality has promised to issue a comment later.