The Makhado Council is once again being accused of wasteful expenditure by the DA.

Vacancies in key positions that were advertised at a high cost were afterwards embargoed.

“Cllr Mudau, who is the chairperson of corporate services, issued a letter (moratorium) directed to the department of finance to stop filling vacancies. The councillor is interfering in the duties of the municipal manager. The municipality wasted about R300 000 in advertising for the embargoed posts,” states the DA in a media release.

The Makhado Municipality responded through its spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi, that the adverts for the posts were done and all the applications received were recorded for safekeeping.

“We don’t want to rush to fill those positions. The process should be done in a transparent and fair manner and we are busy adjusting our organogram in order to address the current demand,” Bobodi said. He added that the top management of the municipality held a strategic planning in December last year in order to address the immediate issue relating to the demand of the municipality.

Another issue that the DA brought to the fore was the failure of the municipality to collect its debt.

“Lack of capacity and quality at the municipality has resulted in the municipality’s failing to collect debt of more than R100 million,” the DA stated. In the meantime, Council has enlisted the services of ZMS Management Solution Company “as a turnaround strategy to recover the debt, and so far they have done well to recover the debt, although there is still a long way to go,” Bobodi said.