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SAMWU Vhembe Local reveals all

SAMWU Vhembe Local reveals all; corruption, maladministration, fraud and nepotism

SAMWU PRESS STATEMENT
13 July 2010.

Vhembe District Municipality has for the past two financial years been under stern inclination of nefarious administration characterized by corruption, maladministration, fraudulent activities and blatant nepotism. Gradually, the current top administrators are milking the coffers of the municipality for their own benefit. Service delivery to the community has been relegated to non-entity while the top echelon basks in their newly discovered riches.

SAMWU Vhembe local has consistently been vocal against the malpractices that the municipality seems to have deliberately adopted. The district municipality has for the first time received a disclaimer audit opinion due to fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditures. This happened despite the municipality having appointed a company of cronies; some of the top management to assist it in administering its finances. The company was paid over R6, 2 million in a period of twelve months. The financial statement that resulted was in shambles and the Auditor General was forced to issue a disclaimer.

To this day the municipality is tight-lipped on what steps are being taken to implement the recommendations of the audit report. When SAMWU raised this matter with management, it was labeled opportunistic. Management claims it is on top of the matter but they are blatantly disregarding the MFMA.

At the same time, the municipality has embarked on an unnecessary spree of furniture buying. The management claims the furniture is bought because of the need. The furniture that is being replaced was bought some two years back and was still in a usable condition. Surely someone is cashing in on these unnecessary expenses.

As if this is not enough, management has gone to the extent of employing a person who allegedly did not submit an application. SAMWU has revealed that up until the closing date of submitting applications, the person, who has become known as Miss X, did not submit her application. Management is fabricating several stories to claim that the application was indeed submitted.

As we publish this information, SAMWU Vhembe Local has engaged the service of a lawyer to take the municipality to the high court in order to review the appointment. At the same time, management disregarded the provision of the main collective agreement and the municipality recruitment policy by not involving SAMWU during the interviews. We now believe that SAMWU was deliberately left out, so that management could appoint friends improperly.

The recruitment policy states that internal recruitment must take precedent over external recruitment. To the management of Vhembe, this is foreign. Once an employee is labeled a SAMWU activist, any opportunity for career development is lost to him or her. The management is hell bent on recruiting people who they believe will assist them in union bashing. Thus far, the Union is resolute that management will not succeed in their dubious actions but they will only help the course of the workers: that of cementing unity.

It is in line with the above that SAMWU has demanded the following from management:

-Investigation on the fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by the municipality during the 2008/9 financial year.
-Investigation on the irregular and unauthorized expenditure incurred by the municipality during the 2008/9 financial year.
-Investigation on the recent controversial appointment of post level two appointees.
-The recovery of taxpayer’s money wasted as a result of fruitless, wasteful, irregular and unauthorized expenditure from the accounting officer and the Chief Financial Officer.
-Forensic investigation on all tenders awarded during the financial years 2008/9 and 2009/10.
-The suspension of Municipal Manager ,Senior Manager Corporate services and Chief Financial Officer while the investigation is going ahead.

SAMWU is making this call for the sole purpose of protecting tax payers money from being squandered by management; which by all means possible is hell bent on enriching themselves and their relatives.

SAMWU says RED CARD CORRUPTION.

For comment please contact cde Ronald Mani on 083 353 7957

Issued by;

Tahir Sema.
South African Municipal Workers' Union of COSATU.
National Media and Publicity Officer.
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