MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

IPTS irregular expenditure spending frenzy

By

Dear MyPE

Following on the heels of a motion of exigency presented to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee on 28 June 2014 in Nelson Mandela Bay, I have called for an immediate forensic investigation into the failed Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS).

This follows the fact that the IPTS still has no buses running in spite of the city having spent in excess of R1 billion to date in establishing the programme. The pilot programme of running the bus system was an abject failure.

In addition to the various concerns raised above, the DA has received numerous detailed reports of suspicious activities and transactions related to expenditure items out of the grant funding provided.

The information received confidentially has exposed the fact that millions of rands have been paid out to various companies in an irregular expenditure spending frenzy over the last few months. The DA believes that there is prima facie evidence that the IPTS-project is riddled with incidences of fraud and corruption and that the administration can no longer ignore our demands for a full forensic audit into this besieged project.

A senior caucus delegation met with Mr Trevor Harper, the metro Chief Financial Officer, on 1 September 2014 and raised these concerns with him. We have asked for a preliminary investigation into and an explanation for this expenditure authorised by senior officials within the administration.

Nelson Mandela Bay can no longer afford the level of ineptitude that has been displayed in the management of what should have been a relatively fundamental project.

There are good case studies in other metro’s which demonstrate how a public transport system should be run.  We urge the City Manager to engage with these successful operators to get the assistance needed to salvage this costly fiasco.

The DA is calling for the project to be removed immediately from the political stewardship of the Deputy Executive Mayor, Cllr Chippa Ngcolomba, who has regrettably not provided the leadership required to get the project back on track. It is high time that corrupt officials and politicians are called to account and face the full might of the law.

Regards

Cllr Retief Odendaal

The following two tabs change content below.

Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.

Reader Interactions

Comments