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The DA in Limpopo has filed a complaint with the Office of the Public Protector requesting a probe into Polokwane Municipality after it allegedly paid suppliers twice, to the value of R35 million, for the same goods and services in the 2016 /2017 financial year.

An Auditor General’s (AG) report concluded that the municipality failed to maintain an invoice register to record all invoices received, an anomaly which enabled these double payments.

According to the report, some officials changed invoice numbers when processing the payments to bypass controls in the SAMRAS system.

These underhanded dealings have contributed towards R199 million incurred in irregular expenditure by the municipality.

It is clear that suppliers have deliberately received double payments for personal enrichment at the expense of residents who are forced to endure poor service delivery from the municipality.

Polokwane Municipality has been getting away with misuse of public funds for far too long and it is time that they are held to account.

The irregular expenditure in this municipality has been an issue since 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 financial years when R298 million and R254 million were incurred respectively.

It’s clear that this ANC led municipality has been turned into a corruption hub where service delivery is not a priority at all.

Since January, there has been endless service delivery protests in places such as Mankweng, Solomondale , Disteneng , Seshego and Westernberg where community members are demanding nothing but basic services to be accelerated in their villages.

This proves that financial mismanagement , corruption and tender irregularities are still rife in Polokwane and that needs an urgent probe by the Public Protector.

The DA urges the Public Protector to priorities this case and ensure that steps are taken against those implicated in the financial mess and corruption.

The DA is committed to bring change that eliminates corruption, creates jobs and delivers services to the people of South Africa.

Issued by DA