Manager summoned to explain R237m in wasteful expenditure

DA councillor Thys Janse van Rensburg, uthukela Municipality’s municipal public accounts committee chairperson, said the committee had been forced to summon municipal manager Bongani Mnguni to appear before it today.

Janse van Rensburg issued the committee’s resolution yesterday.

The committee took the decision after the municipal manager failed on numerous occasions to provide it with a report in connection with fruitless and wasteful expenditure at the municipality totalling a whopping R237 million.

Janse van Rensburg said the committee was mandated to exercise oversight of the dealings of the municipality by, among other functions, investigating fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Addressing the impasse, he said: “The uthukela (committee) was forced to postpone its planned October sitting twice due to the lack of forthcoming information and reports from the various departments.

“Therefore, the (committee) was left with no option but to exercise its powers to summon the (municipal manager), who is the accounting officer for the municipality, to appear and explain why information is not forthcoming in line with legislation.

“As DA representatives in uthukela, we are deeply concerned by this development. “The DA will not hesitate to escalate the matter to the Kwazulu-natal co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC if we find the rules and regulations were wilfully ignored,” he warned.

All attempts to get comment from the uthukela municipal manager’s office proved fruitless.