MAFIKENG MAIL - Rustenburg: The Bojanala Platinum District Municipality Mayor and Council have turned their focus to deal with death threats and intimidation against Acting-Municipal Manager, Dr Auchalie Mothupi and Internal Audit Manager, Rebaone Mokotjo.
Following weeks of attempts to wipe off the two senior officials, Acting Executive Mayor, Cllr Victoria Makhaula, and the Council responded to a series of anonymous messages spreading inaccurate information and allegations about municipal affairs with great concern.
According to a statement from the municipality’s acting communications manager, Thapelo Matebesi, the threats and intimidations were aimed at casting doubt on the Acting-Municipal Manager’s ability to deal with wrongdoing that bedevilled the municipality for decades.
A series of stinging allegations dubbed “Shenanigans of thee Dr M Acting MM – BPDM” volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 in possession of this newspaper have been speculated with no name of the author.
“Council has in its past sittings taken strong decisive actions against individuals who have committed acts of gross misconduct and directed Acting-Municipal Manager to implement consequence management.
“To date, internal and external investigations have revealed that millions of Rands have been looted by officials. As a result, some senior managers and junior officials have been suspended,” read the statement.
As part of his mandate, Dr Mothupi has initiated various investigations which revealed rampant fraud and corruption by certain officials of the municipality. Logic dictated that the death threats and intimidation were aimed at rendering the municipality dysfunctional to the point where recommendations by investigations were not implemented.
“Consequently four managers and five junior officials have been suspended, whilst one manager has been dismissed as a result of gross misconducts, such as non-compliance with supply chain processes. The disciplinary processes are in motion as the municipality is committed to imposing harshest possible sanctions to address these acts of egregious misconduct.
“Wrong things cannot be allowed to take place within the municipality and no action is taken. The era of non-accountability, self-entitlement, ill-discipline and wrongdoing with impunity is over under the new administration. The recent anonymous messages sent on social media against our Acting-Municipal Manager and some officials, cannot be left unchallenged,” read the statement. It further expanded: “This conspiracy and propaganda are perpetrated by individuals who are hell-bent in destroying the municipality. All these acts of criminality have been reported to the South African Police, Crime Intelligence and Auditor-General South Africa. “We are calling anyone with substantive evidence to open a case at the nearest police station. Myself and Council have expressed confidence and unwavering support in the leadership of Acting-Municipal Manager, Dr Mothupi, who has instilled values of accountability and strengthened administration since his secondment, to the point where even opposition parties commended his leadership and progress registered in the previous Council meetings,” said the Acting Executive Mayor. The municipality has been marred by corruption ranging from R134 million to the infamous R139 million MTN saga as revealed by investigations. The municipality’s own internal investigations revealed a network or syndicate that has been operating for over years, where there has been collusion, as payments were made to officials who were no longer in the employ of the municipality after resigning before the report could be tabled in Council.
Recently, there has been a break-in at the Municipal Manager’s office leading to the theft of highly sensitive documents. This has been coined as a flagrant violation of municipality’s security which posed a serious threat to the municipality’s operations and the safety of classified, critical information.
