DA questions expenditure
2010-08-12
VARIOUS questions regarding ‘fruitless and wasteful expenditure’ were raised by the DA at last month’s council meeting, including the issue of expenditure on the 2010 Soccer World Cup. As a result, the 2010 Management Committee will compile an in-depth report on all World Cup activities that will serve at the next council meeting. The DA started to ask questions a year ago about the Soccer Management Committee’s trips to Germany. At that stage they wanted to know whether the visits to Germany would contribute to the hope that Paarl would be a 2010 soccer base camp. Eventually, no soccer teams were based in the Western Cape. Although the Council did not reply to queries on the cost, rumoured to run into many millions of rands, the report will be tabled in September. ) The DA also queried why the specialist post of the Head of Electricity, which was of cardinal importance for the municipality, has been made vacant by the municipal management in 2006, with the result that the same person was re-employed on a contract basis, to do the work at a higher cost. The municipal manager responded that the higher cost was due to the scarcity of such personnel and the competitive salary requirements. ) In response to a query on the Carterville housing project, the loss of over R500 000 on the contract was ascribed to the fact that the service provider had become insolvent. This was followed by an out of court settlement, as pursuing the matter “would not constitute value for money”. ) To a query about a settlement of more than R50 000 paid to Nceda Business Consultants to cancel a contract due to non-performance in 2005, the Municipality said they had “prevented fruitless and wasteful expenditure of court and legal costs”. It was considered “good value for money” when compared with legal costs that they could have faced, compared to possible recoveries. Other queries regarding questions raised in the Auditor General’s report, included the lack of a fraud prevention policy, poor stock control, failure to keep records on the performance of contractors, and laxity in the control of overtime payment, which could lead to fraudulent claims. Koos Louw, chief whip of the DA, said the Municipality’s controls did not meet the legal requirements and the DA were not happy with the answers given.
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