ActionSA in KwaDukuza Local Municipality has demanded that the municipality start docking the salaries of the mayor and deputy to recoup R1 million the two have splurged on car hire.
The party was resting on the financial report that was tabled in a council meeting on Friday which revealed that the two officials raked in R1 million within four months on hiring luxury vehicles to carry out their duties.
In a report that was seen by the publication, in November last year, the municipality parted with R176 000 for a car that was hired for the mayor Ali Ngidi and the same amount for the deputy mayor’s vehicle. This was for one month.
ActionSA councillor and finance committee member, Halalisani Ndlovu said before the Thursday council meeting, his party had already proposed to the council to dock the salaries of the two officials because it was clear that they abused their privileges and were very unreasonable.
“We have said it before and we are saying now that the mayor and his deputy must be personally held liable for such a high cost. They were extravagant. It is unbelievable that while people of KwaDukuza were struggling with persistent electricity and water outages, the mayor and his deputy were living life at the expense of the poor residents.
Ndlovu further stated that to show that the officials were extravagant they were changing these cars like the socks where, in other months, they were driving BMW X3, Mercedes Benz, and Volvo, which he said was unnecessary.
The report showed from November to February the mayor had raked in R497 180.10 while his deputy had spent R527 720.13 which means for a day the municipality was paying R17 590.
The municipality spokesperson Sifiso Zulu said the ActionSA must file a motion to the Speaker and the council will debate and take a decision, however, the ANC provincial spokesperson said the team that is investigation how the council approved the home protection of the mayor at a cost of R173 000 a month would also look into the car hire costs.
The municipality leadership is under the spotlight of the ANC provincial leadership under Jeff Radebe, the convener and Mike Mabuyakhulu, the coordinator who were given responsibility to revive the party in the province.
Last week the party launched an investigation into how the Municipality procured the protection of the mayor’s house at a cost of R173 000 a month without a police threat assessment report. The team that is investigating the matter is expected to present to the leadership this week. The decision came after the leaked March invoice where the Durban-based security company was billing the municipality for monthly costs of eight guards that are protecting the mayor’s house 24 hours a day.
The ANC’s investigation came at the back of the council’s denial of any knowledge of police security threat analysis which could have led the council to approve the protection of the mayor’s house.
