Johannesburg – ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has come under fire over a budget deficit of about R1.2 billion during his tenure as the mayor of Joburg.
The city’s MMC for economic development, Thomas Mofokeng, held a media briefing yesterday in which he revealed the findings of a Group Forensics and Investigation Services report, which indicates irregularities in the former mayor’s glory project of sourcing staff, such as cleaners and security guards.
The report indicated that while the insourcing project took place, foreign nationals and people who stole other people’s identity were hired by the city. The report also indicated that security guards who did not have the relevant trade certificates were also hired.
Mofokeng told the media that Mashaba ran the city with an iron fist when he was mayor and that proper processes were not followed while he undertook the insourcing project.
Mofokeng said around R600 million was budgeted to get the in-sourcing project moving but the city could not explain why the costs had gone to more than R1 billion. He said the city had been trying to get answers from Mashaba on the matter.
“The council had agreed on the issue of insourcing and they agreed that R557m be used on insourcing.
’’When these people were brought in, Mashaba allowed the budget to be exceeded without going to the council. Now we are sitting with R660m. In other words, we are sitting with R660m plus R557m which amount to R1.2bn,” Mofokeng said.
Mofokeng said four Zimbabweans were hired through Mashaba’s programme.
“There were even security officers that were not even registered with the necessary registration statute.
“They just found their way into the city. If you are bringing security people you must make sure you bring people that know what security is,” Mofokeng said.
The city said that before Mashaba’s insourcing programme, there were around 2 000 security officials working for the municipality.
There were around 4 000 when the insourcing programme was complete.
The current city leadership also complained about some Expanded Public Works Programme workers being overlooked and not hired with the rest.
There were also some city workers who were benefiting from social grants while employed by the city.
The city denied that Mashaba had over-hired people, but instead accused him of fraud.
The Star understands that the security guards and cleaners were well paid when Mashaba sourced them.
But it appears there were some in the city who had problems with the amount of money the security guards were earning.
Contacted for comment, ActionSA national spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni said a team was working on a response. She then referred The Star to Michael Beaumont, the interim national chairperson of ActionSA, who could also not be reached.
The Star also contacted Mashaba for comment but his phone went unanswered.
The Star