The councillor has demanded answers over procurement, staffing and financial controls.
For years, the Madibeng Local Municipality in Brits has been mired in irregular tenders, financial mismanagement and maladministration – an open secret that has eroded public trust and crippled service delivery.
Now, one councillor has broken ranks. Ward 15 ANC councillor Lucas Motaung has stepped forward, demanding accountability from mayor Douglas Maimane and the municipality’s leadership.
Councillor invokes oversight powers
Motaung has sent questions as part of his oversight duty to Maimane, council speaker Ditshego Mbedzi and single whip Peter Padi, demanding that the trio should account for misgovernance, maladministration and matters pertaining to labour and financial controls.
He said he was exercising his duty as provided in the constitution, the Municipal Structures Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
Procurement and tender processes questioned
Motaung claimed there were irregular appointments of contractors for which he was demanding an explanation and whether procurement processes were being followed, including supply chain management policies and relevant legislation.
He also demanded that the leadership, including Maimane, must explain and submit written motivation for deviation from the procedure where that happened and whether competitive bidding was followed.
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He also wanted an answer as to whether corrective measures had been implemented to prevent a recurrence of the irregularities.
He referred to Maimane’s decision to assume the functions of corporate services, where he did administrative duties instead of letting the work be done by human resources personnel.
Decisions allegedly taken outside council authority
In the past, the municipal manager was appointed as a consulted to do municipal work after the project management unit was disbanded due to widespread irregular expenditure in the municipality.
Many decisions were taken by the administration without council resolutions and outside delegated powers of the officials – something that was unlawful.
Motaung’s embarked on the oversight role after years of irregularities in appointments and awarding of tenders without following supply chain management procedures.
Neither Maimane, Mbedzi or Padi were available for comment at the time of publication.
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