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The Democratic Alliance has called for the suspension of Mpumalanga’s eMalahleni municipal manager after he diverted R1.5 million of service delivery funds to buy a mayoral car.
DA provincial legislature member Bosman Grobler labelled Theo van Vuuren as a “disgraced” manager who has been involved in one controversy after another.
Van Vuuren has asked the eMalahleni council to approve the budget for new mayor Lindiwe Ntshalintshali’s official vehicle. The money will be sourced from savings resulting from budget rollovers.
Van Vuuren told council that Ntshalintshali was using a Lexus that had done 124 813km and its motor plan had expired. According to the South African Local Government Association’s handbook, a mayoral car should be replaced after reaching 150 000km.
“The MEC of [the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs department] must intervene in the eMalahleni municipality and put the disgraced municipal manager on suspension immediately pending the investigation into his corrupt dealings in the municipality,” Grobler said.
“This car should not be financed with money meant for service delivery. This current government should be ashamed,” he added.
eMalahleni’s spokesperson, Lebohang Mofokeng, said service delivery would not be affected because R261.1 million had been set aside for water, electricity, sanitation, refuse removal, roads and storm water in the 2016-2017 financial year.
“Basic service is and remains the highest priority of the municipality. The budget for these items has not been touched and administration has actually seen a growth year on year. More funding to strengthen these budgets is also being mobilised from provincial and national government,” Mofokeng said.
DA councillor, Naritha Naidu, said that it was morally wrong for the municipality to buy a car for this amount.
“People here still don’t have electricity, water and our roads have potholes. eMalahleni has a lot of service-delivery issues,” she said.
The DA’s mayor in Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, this week directed new 10 BMWs that the ANC bought for politicians to the metro police – saying that politicians could use Toyota Corollas and Hyundai i20s.
Van Vuuren has been under fire since he came to the municipality as an administrator in 2014.
In July, the DA laid fraud and corruption charges against him following evidence that money paid by commercial farmers to lease the council’s farms were paid into an FNB account that did not belong to the municipality.
Van Vuuren also previously spent more that R20 million on bodyguards to protect the municipality’s top executives against protesting South African Municipal Workers Union members.
Van Vuuren said he was being subjected to unjustified political attacks.
“Indeed we live in difficult times and I am finding myself at a point of being targeted for political gain by the said party,” he said.
“It’s a pity that they cannot fight the politicians at their level but have decided to try and disgrace an official. But that will not deter me from executing my functions and responsibility, and to take items to council for political decision-making, as required from me, and as I did in respect of the item under discussion”, Van Vuuren added.
