Durban - uMngeni Local Municipality paid a service provider R32 000 for soccer kit that would have cost the municipality R8 000 had it been purchased directly from the shops.
This is among a list of allegations of financial abuses that occurred in the municipality that were detailed by mayor Chris Pappas during a media briefing last week.
He was giving an update on the work done to boost control systems in the municipality since taking over the municipality.
He said since taking over, they had uncovered previous concerning transactions and some cases of outright illegality had been identified. According to the mayor, several officials were implicated in wrongdoing and showed contrition for their actions, resigning in the face of financial misconduct charges against them.
Pappas cited several instances in or around September 2021 in the run-up to the local government elections. The DA emerged victorious from those elections and took over the running of the council from the ANC.
He highlighted several incidents of fruitless and wasteful expenditure. In one case the municipality had paid people taking part in a youth event as masters of ceremonies a fee of around R15 000, yet there was no paperwork accounting for the spending.
In another case there was a youth sport tournament, and the costs for the event were exorbitant. “The municipality paid R32 000 for a soccer kit, when a top-of-the line soccer kit would not have cost more than R8 000 from our local shops.”
Pappas stressed that the officials implicated in wrongdoing would not just get to walk away from the situations with their financial packages intact. He said in cases where there were financial recoveries that needed to be made, the municipality went about recovering the money.
“The primary goal in procurement should be value for money. We have come a long way, and we will continue to hold the people accountable, even the councillors and myself, if I ever do anything wrong,” Pappas concluded.