Hawks to probe missing R5.57m

MOKOPANE - The Democratic Alliance (DA) stated that it will be approaching the Limpopo Hawks to investigate Mogalakwena Municipality for the huge amount of taxpayers’ money that is alleged to have gone missing without a trace as reported by Northern News on 3 July, “R5.57m transfer scam.”
 Although the municipality has announced an internal investigation, the DA says they do not believe that this will have any results, given the latest incident where implicated individuals in another investigation were rewarded with higher positions in local government.
 “Why the new mayor has not suspended any officials, despite having confiscated the devices used to release payment is baffling,” says the party. Surely they have been allocated to someone who must explain this act of crime and fraud.
 The DA added that they will ask the Hawks to investigate all officials, whose devices have been confiscated, including the IT-department that is alleged to have played a part in the disappearance of transactional data.
 “Looting of public funds has been a trend in Mogalakwena and is a transgression of many of the terms of the Municipal Financial Management Act, which is clear on the punishment or penalties for noncompliance. While the ANC fails to put an end to this, communities are deprived of basic services to access fair opportunities,” the DA said.
 The DA furthermore said they will also be writing to the speaker of Mogalakwena to convene a special council meeting with the intention to suspend the chief financial officer, IT manager and municipal manager under whose leadership the money disappeared.
Oscar Ratombo, spokesperson for the Mogalakwena Residents Association’s (MRA) commented on the issue by stating that the MRA is dismayed and shocked by “the lies of the new Mogalakwena mayor, Parks Sebatjane” and the R5.57-million that is missing.
The MRA claims that Sebatjane is aware of the transaction that was made in the bank account of a senior ANC official in the region. “It is not astonishing to us that this incident occurred again,” Ratombo stated in a press release to the media.
He pointed the finger at the previous leadership and asked for a thorough investigation.
Among other demands, the MRA insist the national treasury appoints an independent forensic audit company to investigate all financial transactions made in Mogalakwena Municipality dating back to November 2014.