Africa-Press – South-Africa. The EFF says corruption in the Ekurhuleni administration is out of control, with municipal-owned houses hijacked by third parties while more than R200 million is owed by the metro to service providers.
In a power-sharing deal with the ANC, the EFF recently gained political power in Ekurhuleni, with five of its members appointed as MMCs.
The party’s provincial leader, Nkululeko Dunga who serves as an Ekurhuleni MMC for finance, said since taking office, the party had pinpointed massive lapses in the City’s administration.
The EFF held a media briefing on Wednesday without its political partners, the ANC.
Dunga said his first few weeks in office had shown service providers were turning to the courts to claw back funds owed for services rendered.
He added sheriffs of the court were attaching City assets to get funds back worth more than R200 million.
“We are aware that some of these non-payments of service providers are because officials are requesting bribes in exchange for payments,” said Dunga.
He added another concern was the hijacking of municipal houses across the metro’s suburbs by unknown people renting out the properties and collecting rent.
The EFF has raised the alarm about the expenditure of more than R300 million on waste compactors.
Dunga said only 32 of the 103 compactors were allocatable.
Compactors are used in the collection and removal of refuse.
One of the main issues impacting residents in the metro was waste removal, with Dunga saying this service delivery lapse could only be managed with a transparent audit of the City’s assets.
“The City spends more than R363 million on contracts for waste removal for 46 waste compactors, and it requires 78 waste compactors to collect waste in the CBDs optimally.
“Currently, waste collection in the CBD and suburban areas is through municipal waste compactors, whereas predominantly black areas depend largely on appointed contractors.”
Dunga said the EFF would open a criminal case if the missing waste compactors were not found by the end of the week.
Another case of corruption the EFF is concerned about is illegal billboards placed across the city.
Dunga said there were 96 legal billboards in the metro with a payment of R17 million, adding more than 300 were illegally placed across “the city’s borders”.
He added the businesses that had illegally placed the billboards would see them being pulled down.
Dunga said businesses that owed the City millions would have their electricity and water services cut off from 1 June.
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