~ It has only one library, poor roads, just two clinics and no recreational facilities but the Moretele municipality in North West wants to use its R98-million infrastructure grant to bury councillors - past and present. According to a funeral policy adopted at a special sitting of the council this month, the municipality will pay R50000 each towards the funerals of current and former councillors, traditional leaders and citizens who contribute extraordinarily to community development. There are 55 sitting councillors, which means the ANC-led council would have to use R2.75-million to cover their funerals. There are about 150 former councillors, which pushes the cover to R8.25-million. It is unclear how many traditional leaders and citizens would benefit from the policy. Councillors in Moretele earn between R10000 and R40000 a month and receive monthly perks of more than R6000 each. These include a R4200 travel allowance, more than R2000 towards cellphone bills and a R2500 contribution to a provident fund. The funeral policy, which the DA has objected to, has been approved less than a year after Pravin Gordhan, then finance minister, announced austerity measures to cut government officials waste of taxes. It is reminiscent of MPs attempt to secure free flights for 10 years after they retire - at taxpayers expense - earlier this year. Since becoming cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister, Gordhan has continued reining in public officials, advocating a zero-tolerance approach to waste at municipal level. In other words, focus not on the fancy and the frills but on the basic tasks that local government is actually there to perform . he said last month. Gordhan said he would introduce non-negotiable terms at municipalities, including that they spend at least 7% of their budget on infrastructure maintenance. But Moretele seems to have other ideas. Municipal manager Roger Nkumise has justified the funeral policy, saying councillors are too old to find employment after they leave the council and are often destitute, potentially leading them to suicide or even committing homicide. The municipality has received three consecutive disclaimers when audited, with Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu revealing last month that the municipality had wasted R63.9-million in irregular, unauthorised and wasteful expenditure. In addition, the municipality failed to account for R550 000 used in the 2012-2013 financial year and R12.8-million in the previous year. Nkumise confirmed the adoption of the funeral policy but would not comment further except to say the decision still had to be confirmed. But the DA leader in the municipality, Shangy Mbekwa, said: It is a done deal. He said the DA objected to the burial policy, saying councillors should fund their own funerals. This is the poorest municipality in the country, with 72 villages that have no basic infrastructure. We have one library, no proper roads, only two clinics and no recreational facilities. What is happening here is a joke, Mbekwa said. Nkumise said in a report that the R50000 would cover a coffin, firewood, the grave, venue, chairs and tables, transport, catering, ushers and funeral service programmes.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 04:50:47 +0000
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