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The Congress of the People (COPE) has written a letter to the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs demanding that urgent action must be taken to root out corruption and hold corrupt councillors accountable at the troubled Nala Local Municipality.

The municipality seems to operate under the rule “steal as much as you can and if you are caught, we will just make you to sign an ‘acknowledgement of debt’ paper which means nothing”

The former Mayor built a wall around her mother’s house without following tender procedures. Despite this illegal and irregular action; the cost of this wall is also inflated.

The current speaker, Ms Nozililo Martha Masiyana spend R10 000 on alcohol for personal consumption using the municipality’s credit card.

When this was discovered, she only signed on IOU on the 19^th September 2012, although the first payment was due on the 15^th September 2012.  COPE understand that she has not even paid a cent. The IOU was just a Public Relations exercise. See attachment.

The Municipality petrol was stolen to fill up cars of guests attending the wedding of the councillor’s relative. A case was opened at the Wesselsbron Police Station, but to date no one has been arrested.

COPE believes that this institutionalised corruption does not argue well for our country’s future. COPE urges the Minister to take drastic action to stem the tide of corruption in this municipality.