Posted on

PEU investigation by Gordhan a welcome first step against corrupt Tshwane

The DA welcomes Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Pravin Gordhan’s announcement that he has called for an investigation into the City of Tshwane’s corrupt and unlawful PEU smart-meter contract, which has wasted R1,84 billion to date.

This follows the DA’s request to both Minister Gordhan and Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene to initiate a forensic investigation into this matter and the criminal charges that I laid this week against  Executive Mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, and all those involved.

In fact, Gordhan himself instructed the City of Tshwane not to enter into the PEU contract when he was Minister of Finance. Executive Mayor Ramokgopa and Municipal Manager Ngobeni chose to ignore this instruction.

The DA has therefore laid charges of fraud, perjury, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and misleading the City of Tshwane municipal council against the mayor, municipal manager and the directors of PEU Capital Partners (PEU).

The total amount lost by the City of Tshwane to date on the terminated PEU smart meter contract is R1.84 billion, which is money that the residents of Tshwane have been robbed of. This exorbitant amount has only resulted in around 12 000 metres being installed out of 800 000 metres needed.

Despite these unlawful acts, no action had been taken by the national government against Executive Mayor Ramokgopa and Mr Ngobeni to date, and therefore Minister Gordhan’s move to investigate the contract is a welcome first step against this corrupt, fraudulent and unlawful situation.

Minister Gordhan has written to Gauteng MEC for Local Government Jacob Mamabolo requesting him to launch an investigation into the matter. It is critical that MEC Mamabolo acts independently and impartially in conducting this investigation and must not protect his fellow ANC cadres who are guilty of maladministration and corruption.

Minister Gordhan has also indicated that he wants a progress report from MEC Mamabolo’s department within 30 days.

This investigation is a welcome step against the corrupt ANC government of Tshwane; however, the next step must be to vote this government out and to replace it with a government that will stop the cancer of corruption, grow the economy, create jobs and will ensure that all citizens have access to services and opportunities.

That is why I am running as Mayor of Tshwane, to end the scourge of corruption and maladministration under the ANC that is killing job creation and service delivery in Tshwane.

The DA is set on winning the City of Tshwane in Election 2016 to bring change, and a new hope for Tshwane.

Media enquiries:
 
Solly Msimanga
DA Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane
083 612 0492
[IMAGE SOURCE] 

Posted on

West Rand Residents Object Strongly to Proposed Metro

West RandSolly Msimanga DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson

This past weekend residents of the West Rand came out in their numbers to object to the proposed creation of a metropolitan municipality.

On Saturday and Sunday the DA ran a coordinated awareness campaign throughout the Merafong, Mogale City, Westonaria and Randfontein local municipalities, informing residents of the proposals, and that the deadline for objections expires on 5 June.

Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB)

Residents were completely unaware of the proposals and the deadline, but immediately undertook to lodge their objections with the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), and signed the DA’s petition opposing the metro – which would be lodged as part of our objections.

The DA is strongly opposed to merging these local municipalities into a metro, as we believe that Cooperative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his provincial counterpart Jacob Mamabolo had other avenues to address the host of administrative governance issues plaguing these municipalities.

The Tshwane Experience

The Tshwane experience has also shown that service delivery has not improved when merging poor performing municipalities, despite the fact that municipal rates were increased – as the debt burden is simply too much to bear.

Tshwane had to absorb a cost of R1 billion to accommodate the merge, and was only compensated R20 million by the provincial government.

This week, the MDB is scheduled to host public participation meetings in each of the four municipalities, and the DA calls on the greater public to arrive in their numbers and raise their concerns and/or objections with the board.

The meetings are scheduled as follows:

  • Tuesday 2 June, Randfontein Council Chamber at 14h00
  • Wednesday, 3 June, Mogale City, Centenary Hall at 15h00
  • Thursday 4 June, Westonaria, Banquet Hall at 15h00
  • Friday 5 June, Carletonville Civic Centre at 15h00

 

The DA will remain at the forefront of the battle for better service delivery and to prevent the formation of a dysfunctional West Rand Metropolitan Municipality.

 

Media enquiries:

Solly Msimanga MPL

DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson

060 558 8308

[Image source]