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National government must intervene in exorbitant Dr Beyers Naude Municipality spending

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Dear MyPE

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be requesting an immediate national governmental investigation into allegations of fraud and corruption relating to the almost R20 million spent by the cash-strapped Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality (DBNLM) on its equalisation process.

The equalisation process is designed to ensure salary parity for the staff of the smaller Ikwezi and Baviaans municipalities, following their amalgamation with the Camdeboo municipality in 2016, to form the DBNLM.

Initially, R6 million was budgeted for this to be done, but delays in implementation have led to the cost ballooning to R18,5 million.

The DA also questioned why staff from the former Camdeboo Municipality had been paid out monies, when the entire purpose of the equalisation process was to bring the staff from the other two smaller municipalities up to the same pay scale as that of Camdeboo staff.

We questioned why job descriptions and task grades had been amended, given that the placement process has yet to be undertaken and the equalisation process was merely an exercise to ensure uniformity of pay.

The DA has also received reports of astronomical amounts being paid to security guards and library assistants and have heard allegations of political and union interference.

Every request by the DA for a detailed report has been stonewalled. The full equalisation report has never been referred to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, or even tabled before Council.

On 3 August 2020 I submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request to the Municipal Manager, requesting the detailed equalisation report, but this request was refused.

On 27 August 2020 I submitted questions to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to ask her to compel the Municipality to provide me with the report, but I am still awaiting a response.

I will now also be writing to National Treasury, the Auditor-General and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to request that they investigate this equalisation process and why an additional R12,5 million was spent on back pay and salary equalisation.

The DA will not stand idly by while the public’s money is being wasted. We will continue to fight for transparent governance that is free of corruption and irregular expenditure.

Regards

Samantha Graham-Maré, MP
Dr Beyers Naude Constituency Leader

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