LOUIS TRICHARDT – Following last Friday's monthly Council meeting it again became clear that Council has no immediate intention to adhere to specific directives from the MEC for Local Government and Housing regarding the payment of illegal allowances.

The issue surrounding the payment of illegal allowances and benefits to councillors again came to the fore under Item A69.02.05.03 Finances: Allowances and Benefits: Motor vehicle Loan for full-time Councillors. Council was to take a principle decision on the matter but again opted to hold the matter in abeyance.

The matter has been dragging on for more than a year. In a letter dated January 18, 2002 directed to the mayor and handed to the Office of the Municipal Manager for the necessary attention on February 18, 2002, Council is called to order by the provincial MEC for Local Government and Housing to adhere to the legislative requirements in regard to the payment of councillors' allowances and benefits. "The MEC for Local Government and Housing kindly requests your municipality to adhere to the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act no. 20 of 1998 and the SA gazette no. 22726, notice no. 999 without deviation as noticed. Full-time councillors should arrange private financial assistance from private financial institutions and terminate the loan scheme from the municipality on or before 30 March 2002," the MEC's directive amongst others read.

As accounting officer, the Municipal Manager then implemented corrective steps by notifying the full-time Executive Committee members that the motor vehicle loan scheme should be terminated and that loans should be redeemed in full by March 31, 2002. This never happened. Instead, Council even went on to approve the continuous payment of illegal cellphone allowances to Councillors in February this year. Again they were warned that these payments were illegal, this time by their own Director for Finance and LED, Mr Dan Masengana. Again they opted not to adhere to these warnings and again they defied the MEC's directive.

Last Friday's item dealing with the payment of allowances and benefits to councillors dealt with an application for a loan by means of the motor vehicle loan scheme by full-time councillor and member of the Executive Committee, Cllr Philemon Mdaka. Cllr Mdaka is also on the Finance Portfolio Committee and regional Chairman of the ANC. Cllr Mdaka settled his previous loan in February this year, after which he again applied for a new loan to buy a new car.

This presented a problem to the Municipal Manager, as he could not approve the application for a loan, as the scheme is deemed illegal. It was hoped that Council would be able to give direction on the issue on Friday, but as mentioned this did not happen. In the mean time, although the Municipal Manager never approved the loan, Council issued an official order to purchase the vehicle and it has already been delivered to Cllr Mdaka. The agency that sold the vehicle now demands payment from Council.