Sedibeng District Municipality councillors have voted to return Lerato Maloka as mayor just three weeks after being ousted in a motion of no confidence at the end of January. Picture: Nokuthula Mbatha / Independent Newspapers
LERATO Maloka, the mayor of the troubled Sedibeng District Municipality who was ousted in a motion of no confidence over two weeks ago, has returned to her position after winning by one vote on Tuesday.
The ANC’s Maloka beat DA councillor Prudence Hlanyane by 25 votes to 24 in the 49-member council after she was removed in a motion of no confidence at the end of last month tabled by the DA.
Last week, an attempt to re-elect a new mayor descended into chaos following disruption by unknown people who threw teargas or pepper spray into the chambers and forced the meeting to be abandoned.
The ANC has 19 seats, the DA has 16, the EFF has six, two each for the FF+ and the PAC while the ACDP, New Horizon Movement (NHM), Community Solidarity Association (CSA), and VAAL all have one each.
Maloka was previously elected mayor with the support of the PAC, NHM, and CSA and all three parties were represented in her mayoral committee.
A disappointed DA Sedibeng caucus leader, Sibusiso Dyonase, said the party will continue to hold the municipality and its political bosses accountable for their actions.
”Right now, we want the community to decide in the upcoming elections. We will work to be the majority and vote them out in local government elections in 2026,” he said.
The DA said Maloka’s re-election is a stinging indictment against the Sedibeng councillors.
According to the party, in the Sedibeng District Municipality, there is a stark contrast, with the DA-led Midvaal Local Municipality on the one hand achieving its 11th consecutive clean audit and on another, the eMfuleni Local Municipality where water worth about R3 billion has been lost in the past five years.
Sedibeng received an unqualified audit outcome with findings from the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) in 2023/24, which is unchanged from the previous financial year.
The AGSA found that the municipality had a net deficit of nearly R18.3 million by the end of June last year.
”As of that date (June 30, 2024), the current liabilities exceeded their total assets by R131m … These events or conditions indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the district municipality’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the Auditor-General’s office stated.
It was also found that the municipality failed to take reasonable steps to prevent irregular expenditure of over R19.1m as well as R18.3m in unauthorised expenditure, which was caused by inadequate budget processes.
Both irregular and unauthorised expenditures were not investigated to determine if any person was liable and the council declared that losses from irregular expenditures were irrecoverable without investigating to determine recoverability.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za
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