Clarion call to reshuffle councillors

A Limpopo district municipality is confronted with calls for reshuffling councillors following allegations of nepotism and conflict of interest.

Limpopo, which is more than 80% rural, has 22 local and five district municipalities.

The mayors of Capricorn, Waterberg and Vhembe district municipalities have already embarked on reshuffling of their councillors.

But Mopani district, led by mayor Pule Shayi and Sekhukhune district led by mayor Keamotseng Ramaila, have not yet reshuffled their councils.

Yesterday the Democratic Alliance (DA) called for Ramaila to urgently reshuffle his mayoral committee in order to address an apparent conflict of interest in the department of finance.

The party claimed its call for reshuffling was informed by the rampant theft of municipal funds amounting to more than R19 million in recent months and widespread allegations of nepotism in the appointment of senior staffers in the municipality.

The party, which has been attacking the mayor since 2018, claimed the appointment of close relatives and cadre deployment was rampant in the Sekhukhune district municipality.

“This distasteful conflict of interest, which is threatening to cripple the entire administration and impede the delivery of services to the drought-stricken region, is brought about by the appointment of Colbert Mufamadi as the acting chief financial officer [CFO] last month,” said DA Sekhukhune district municipality caucus council leader Solomon Maila yesterday.

Mufamadi was appointed as acting CFO following the suspension of Mpho Mofokeng amid allegations of the irregular appointment of borehole contractors.

“As the acting CFO, Mufamadi is the head of the department of finance in the district municipality. That means he is the senior manager responsible for the finances of the municipality, which has an annual budget of almost R2 billion,” added Maila.

Yesterday Mufamadi said he did not want to qualify or dignify the DA’s accusations with a response, saying “the DA is barking up the wrong tree”.

When contacted for comment, Ramaila’s phone was on voice mail as he was reportedly on sick leave.

His spokesperson, Willy Mosoma, said appointing and firing of councillors, including the reshuffling of his council or members of the mayoral committee, was strictly on Ramaila’s behest.

“From where we are standing, we know nothing about reshuffling of councillors but whether he embarks on reshuffling or not, this solely depends on him,” said Mosoma.