Central SA
Metro denies claims of missing R500k─── LUCKY NKUYANE 11:47 Mon, 27 Jun 2022
The troubled Bloemfontein-based Mangaung Metro Municipality in the Free State has rejected and denied claims that thousands of rands meant to purchase diesel, were missing from its coffers.
The Acting City Manager (ACM) of the cash-strapped municipality, Tebogo Motlashuping, tells OFM News that the claims that R500 000 was missing were unfounded.
ALSO READ: R500k unaccounted for at cash-strapped
Motlashuping says the investigations have revealed that these claims were based on unfounded allegations.
ALSO READ: Mangaung mum on missing R500k
"There was never a loss of R500 000. What occured is that we are ensuring that when diesel and petrol is purchased, there is accountability for it. There was laxity in relation to that particular aspect but we have put systems in place to make sure that petrol and diesel is accounted for," he adds.
OFM News previously reported that according to the leader of the DA caucus, Johan Pretorius, Motlashuping confirmed that he had approved the payment of R500 000 to buy diesel but the money has since gone missing.
Pretorius had previously said that the municipality can roughly fill up 200 compact vehicles with that amount of diesel.
The Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke previously revealed that the cash-strapped Metro Municipality’s road and water network infrastructure deteriorated because the ailing Metro, amongst others, failed to properly spend its infrastructure budget accordingly.
“Unmetered consumption, theft and a lack of maintenance resulted in average water losses of 49% and electricity distribution losses of 20%. Service delivery protests increased as residents grew increasingly dissatisfied with pothole-riddled roads, having to go for days without water, and refuse sometimes not being collected for weeks,” she adds.
She says despite the metro holding the public participation sessions where the needs of the community were received and planned for, many of the planned targets were not achieved because they were not prioritised and/or because of a lack of funding.
ALSO READ: AG exposes Mangaung’s failed infrastructure maintenance
She says despite the metro holding the public participation sessions where the needs of the community were received and planned for, many of the planned targets were not achieved because they were not prioritised and/or because of a lack of funding.
