The newly elected Tshwane deputy mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya, has paid back to the government the money she spent following a cancelled work trip in 2020.
Moya said she had paid back the R10,000 travel allowance that was given to her in 2020, saying that she voluntarily returned the money to the city. The money was paid for a planned trip to Saudi Arabia, which was subsequently cancelled in the same year.
At the time, Moya was working under the leadership of then-DA mayor Stevens Mokgalapa, who vacated his office following a sex scandal.
The member of ActionSA, who is also an executive member of Herman Mashaba’s party, was left red-faced when she was accused of “chowing” the metro’s money when she was a chief of staff under the DA leadership.
Failure to pay sparks EFF
Failure to pay back the money at the time prompted the EFF to call, at any given opportunity, for her to pay back the money. Such calls were led by EFF regional chairperson, Obakeng Ramabodu.
When Sunday World asked Moya why it took her more than three years to pay back the money, Gauteng’s ActionSA leader Funzi Ngobeni responded on her behalf. He said Moya volunteered to return the money in the interest of transparency.
“The city never approached Dr. Moya to return this money after the decision to cancel this trip, for which she (Moya) had not participated in planning. Furthermore, even when she voluntarily offered to return it with interest, the city could not accept the interest,” said Ngobeni.
Moya had initially claimed that she was not sure if she had paid back the money or not.
One source said: “Nasiphi thought that her smallanyana skeletons would not surface. She chowed the money back then while working with Mokgalapa under the DA-led municipality. She never thought that there was a paper trail for everything when it came to government transactions.”
Now that she is a deputy mayor, the opposition dug for receipts, and the R10,000 scandal surfaced.
Itch for Action SA over DA issue
Another official in Tshwane said that Moya felt the pressure and also got chastised by her principals in the ActionSA for embarrassing the party over a matter of a “meagre” R10,000.
“The head honchos of ActionSA told her that she had embarrassed the party with her past skeletons while she was with the DA and that her shenanigans followed her to Mashaba’s party. Her actions had put the spotlight on ActionSA, despite the fact that the party is always talking about transparency and being anti-corruption.
The ANC and EFF in the city have not responded to our questions at the time of going to print.
