Questions over hotel booking for BCM finance watchdog members

Buffalo City Metro’s municipal public accounts committee

— a watchdog over the city’s finances — has been questioned after it booked accommodation for councillors attending a meeting held at the East London ICC.

At the heart of the queries was why councillors should be booked into a hotel to attend the three-day meeting when it was held in their hometown.

Three opposition parties raised questions over the committee’s decision to book accommodation while the city was undertaking cost-cutting measures due to its dire financial state.

The meeting was intended for the public accounts committee to scrutinise the city’s annual report.

The Herald’s sister paper Daily Dispatch has seen a letter signed by DA chief whip Anathi Majeke and fellow councillor Geoff Walton, and addressed to council speaker

Humphrey Maxegwana and chief whip Ntombizandile Mhlola.

The letter says: “It is prudent to note the public accounts committee is the municipality’s financial watchdog and we exercise oversight of municipal spending.

“This committee is required therefore to operate at all times in a manner which is beyond reproach as we need to ensure the efficient and effective use of municipal resources.”

The letter said, with reference to the municipality’s financial recovery plan, the committee’s DA councillors felt accommodation for councillors and officials had not been needed since the meeting, between February 14 and 16, had been held locally.

Majeke said one of the meetings had collapsed as it did not achieve a quorum.

The EFF and UDM agreed that booking accommodation for East London councillors had been unnecessary.

EFF leader Mziyanda Hlekiso said: “It’s [fruitless] and wasteful expenditure for me to be booked in the ICC while I stay here [in East London], doing my job and I am getting paid for that.”

The UDM’s Anele Skoti said it was wrong for the city to book councillors into a hotel while cutting spending on service delivery.

“It’s shocking that they are booking people into hotels ... it’s local people and we know our financial situation.”

Speaker Maxegwana confirmed he had received the letter, but was still to convene a meeting with the public accounts committee chair, Sakhumzi Caga, and the DA over it.

He declined to comment further, referring inquiries to Caga.

Caga said the meeting had been convened in line with the city’s cost-cutting measures.

In previous years, the meeting had been held out of town, and the accommodation of councillors and officials had been paid for.

“The council’s approved financial recovery plan has specific guidelines on how the institution is conducting itself as far as issues of procurement and expenditure are concerned, and these are approved by the relevant executive accordingly.

“In the past, the committee would conduct this key critical function outside the boundaries of the institution to ensure targets were achieved with the quorum intact.

“The agenda of these sessions includes reviewing the BCMM and BCMDA annual reports, the AG’s report, financial audited statements and so on.

“This is a lot of work that needs maximum focus of committee members without any impediments.”

He added that the DA had “collapsed an important oversight work session of a Section 79 committee of council by absconding and walking out”.