Mayor warns corrupt officials

The municipality is paying R64 000 more for petrol due to officials who abuse petrol cards

The acting executive mayor of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, Vusi Tshabalala, has warned municipality employees to refrain from abusing government resources, such as vehicles and petrol cards.

Tshabalala was addressing municipal officials who work in the department of infrastructure.

“Employees use municipality vehicles to run their personal errands and those of their friends. They use municipal petrol cards to fill up these vehicles, thereby impoverishing this municipality. They will soon face the full might of the law,” he warned.

Tshabalala said R814 000 was spent on petrol in August alone, R64 000 more than the allocated R750 000 monthly petrol budget for 74 vehicles.

He said the municipality’s investigations have established that some officials misuse the petrol cards by spending it to fill the vehicles of their friends.

“We have records of two vehicles, one belonging to the municipality and the other to a private citizen, which were both filled at the same time at the expense of the municipality. Cases like these are under investigations and those responsible will account.”

Tshabalala said the municipality has put systems to stop this crime.

“We are working with the traffic cops. If they spot a municipal vehicle on the road, they must stop it and check for trip authorisation. If the particular driver has no permission, he must be arrested and the vehicle impounded.”

A member of mayoral committee responsible for infrastructure, Azael Nhlapho, concurred with Tshabalala adding that the municipality must tighten its monitoring system to put a halt to the misuse of government vehicles.

“The manager of infrastructure is tasked with ensuring that use of municipal petrol card is monitored and all vehicles that are on duty have authorisation.”

Meanwhile, six vehicles were handed over to the traffic department by the executive mayor to bolster its work of ensuring that there is safety in the roads.