Mayor’s ‘jewels’ up for grabs
Newly elected uMkhanyakude District Mayor Solomon Mkhombo might soon be without his ceremonial office chain
BELEAGUERED uMkhanyakude District Municipality has been dealt a heavy blow after the Pietermaritzburg High Court ordered its movable assets be auctioned off to pay a disgruntled service provider – including the mayor’s gold chain
A list of 97 assets belonging to the municipality will be sold off the auction block in December.
In August the courts ruled in favour of Engeolab, a company appointed in 2014 to test water pumps, prospect and inspect boreholes as well as drill two new boreholes in the district.
The company took legal action when the municipality, which is still under administration, failed to pay an amount of just over R1-million still owed for services rendered.
Last week the court issued a default judgement which will see the Sheriff seizing the assets.
Apart from janking the mayor’s chain, auctioneers will also place items such as three vehicles, computers and office furniture under the hammer.
Tender tantrums
Still ongoing in the Durban High Court is a legal battle between the municipality and Sinosa Construction owned by Sibusiso Ncube, husband of KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
It is a R73-million rand tussle over a tender to supply steel water pipes destined to be used in a project that does not seem to have started, with the pipes laying in wait in a field in Jozini.
Auditing firm PWC has been brought on board to verify who owes who after Ncube lodged a claim for an outstanding amount of R10-million, to which the municipality responded with a counterclaim of R15-million.
The tender is fraught with controversy as a R40-million upfront payment was made to Ncube for the contract, which is a violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
COGTA spokesman Lennox Mabaso, who this week did not respond to queries seeking comment from the department who installed an administrator to oversee the workings of the municipality, in October confirmed to the media the advance payment was, according to council reports, an effort to avoid escalation of prices.
At a press briefing affirming the administration status of uMkhanyakude District Municipality just after the 3 August elections, MEC Dube-Ncube said, ‘The operational side of the municipality has deteriorated to the extent that operations are close to grinding to a halt. Several indicators show that the internal control environment in the municipality remains weak.
‘The management persistently failed to implement policies and procedures leading to the ballooning of unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure.’
‘This municipality adopted cost-cutting measures at the beginning of 2015. This, however, did not yield any results owing to a lack of commitment by senior management and political leadership to implement the measures,’ she concluded.
The municipality did not respond to a ZO request for comment.
• A full list of the items to be auctioned will be published in Monday’s Zululand Observer.
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