The beleaguered Mamusa local municipality continues to be mired in financial mismanagement and corruption.
This week, the sheriff attached municipal assets worth R2.9-million after successful litigation on behalf of the municipal workers’ pension fund.
Acting municipal manager Bigboy Mothibi said: “The debts date back to 2017 and the fund is owed R2.9-million by the municipality.
“So far we are unable to quantify the amount of attached municipal properties because our assets have been attached almost every day for the past few days.
“However, our municipal assets unit will be able to quantify the amount in due course.
“Several assets belonging to the municipality, such as laptops, chairs, a refuse truck and tractor have been removed by the sheriff of the court,” Mothibi said.
“The recent infighting at the municipality was mostly due to the suspension of the chief financial officer and her non-compliance with her suspension conditions.
“However, we believe that the matters have been sorted out and the municipality has also secured a court interdict against a group of people who have barricaded the main municipal offices for the past two weeks,” said Mothibi.
Recently, the municipality allegedly delayed the payments of monthly salaries of some employees for January and February.
The employees responded by barricading the entrances to the municipal offices.
The municipality allegedly failed to account for a R20-million equitable share that was transferred into its coffers on December 21 last year by the provincial treasury.
According to allegations, the money was depleted within 24 hours.
The municipality also allegedly made payments to attorneys, that did not appear on its database.
According to the mayor, Mittah Chelechele, the municipality allegedly collected R25-million in rates, but that money was never paid into the municipal account.
The Mamusa local municipality is one of four municipalities that face governance and functionality challenges in the North West.
The other three municipalities are Ditsobotla, Moses Kotane and Maquassi Hills.
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