The chief whip of the City of Matlosana (formerly Klerksdorp) local municipality is facing the axe for misuse and damaging a council-owned Toyota Fortuner by travelling to three funerals in the Eastern Cape without the necessary authority.
A disciplinary hearing into the conduct of ANC Ward 21 councillor Khaya Ndincede led to a recommendation that he be removed from office for racking up nearly R81 000 in fruitless, and for wasteful or irregular expenditure between August and October last year.
In his explanation, Ndincede told the hearing, chaired by DA councillor Gerhard Strydom, ANC councillor Ouma Kgwabane, and Freedom Front Plus councillor Stephanus Kloppers, who later resigned from the disciplinary committee, that he attended three funerals of persons who were close to him.
Ndincede said one funeral was of his comrade’s wife, the other was the funeral of a cousin, and the third was of a family member.
The findings against Ndincede still need to be discussed and debated in council before a resolution is taken. Speaker Stella Mondlane is expected to announce the date and the matter put on the agenda, according to DA City of Matlosana caucus leader, Johannes le Grange.
The committee found Ndincede guilty of very serious offences, as prevention of fruitless and wasteful expenditure is the number one priority in local government.
There are provisions for recovery mechanisms in the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The committee said: ”He is further found guilty of dishonesty, which in our view is not forgivable because it is intentional. One cannot be dishonest by mistake. You take a deliberate decision to deceive.
“Councillor Ndincede took [a] municipal vehicle, went with it to [the] Eastern Cape, incurred fruitless and wasteful expenditure and damaged the vehicle. This is gross misconduct.“
In addition, Ndincede’s conduct was found to have breached the legislated rules.
”The legislature has deemed it appropriate to regulate councillor behaviour by creating prohibitions on conduct, which it deemed to be very important,” the committee stated.
Evidence presented at the hearing showed that Ndincede damaged the vehicle’s tyres and rim after hitting a pothole, which cost the municipality over R6 150 while he used R21 400 for fuel.
He clocked 12 790 kilometres and accrued wear and tear costs of R 53 500.
”It is our finding that Councillor Ndincede has breached various provisions of the code of conduct for councillors and does not deserve to continue as a councillor,” the committee found.
The committee has found that Ndincede be removed from office as a councillor and that speaker Stella Mondlane-Ngwenya must inform the North West co-operative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs MEC Gaoage Oageng Molapisi that he should facilitate Ndincede’s removal in terms of the Municipal Structures Act’s code of conduct for councillors.
Molapisi’s spokesperson Lerato Gambu said the MEC had noted reports about the matter involving Ndincede.
”It must be mentioned that the MEC is in no position to make a determination as he awaits official communication from the speaker of the City of Matlosana following the investigations.
“The MEC will only at that point make a decision and communicate to the relevant authorities,” Gambu said.
The committee also found that Ndicede was not remorseful.
”He sees nothing wrong in what he has done. In fact, he brags about him having multiple vehicles which he could have used but because he sees nothing wrong in using a municipal vehicle for his own personal benefit, he used it.“
The committee further said that Ndincede and his witnesses attempted to mislead the committee by alleging that at a troika meeting (of former mayor James Tsolela, Mondlane-Ngwenya and Ndincede) a decision was taken for him to be issued with a council vehicle, but no such permission existed.
Ndincede also persuaded Mondlane-Ngwenya to come before the committee and lie about him being authorised to go to the Eastern Cape with a council vehicle when on the documents before the hearing it is highly improbable that Mondlane-Ngwenya and municipal manager Lesego Seametso would have known about what he and suspended chief financial officer Mercy Phetla had done.
Ndincede told the Sunday Independent the committee had neither communicated with him or his legal representative.
He regarded the findings as “fake news”.
“Where I am I know that the car was authorised. Therefore, any verdict will be challenged, more especially if [it] is one-sided,” said Ndincede, adding that the findings were unsigned by other committee members who he claimed were distancing themselves from them.
Le Grange, however, confirmed the findings.
-IOL
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