A Limpopo municipality speaker has been accused of making false travel claims and abusing a petrol card while using an official vehicle.
Phukuwe Ntsoane, the speaker of Lepelle-Nkumpi local municipality in Lebowakgomo, is alleged to have submitted travel claims for trips he never took and also used a petrol card issued for his official vehicle while the car was in for repairs.
According to a report, which Sowetan has seen, compiled for the office of the acting municipal manager Tebogo Gafane, Ntsoane’s alleged wrongdoing cost the municipality more than R70,000 between July and October last year.
The report, which relies on information generated from Tracker, Wesbank transactions and travel claims reports, found Ntsoane has been submitting travel claims amounting to R74,000 even though he was using the official vehicle between the same period.
The report further stated the municipal petrol card was used on October 3 while the car was not in operation as it had undergone major mechanical failure in September.
“The municipal petrol card was further used on October 6 2020 at Capricorn toll plaza, which is the same date the speaker has claimed to have travelled to Lekurung Village and civic centre.
Further to that it is also indicated, as per the official Tracker report, that the municipal vehicle did not have any movements on the said date as it was last parked at Nirvana industrial area on October 5 2020.”
Ntsoane denied the allegations, saying it is a “smear campaign” as he had publicly announced a council resolution to fire Gafane.
“I’m not aware of any investigations and nobody asked about such allegations. This is part of a smear campaign to tarnish my image after I told the public on radio two weeks ago that council had taken a resolution to dismiss Gafane after he misled council on the suspension of a technical director,” he said.
Ntsoane and mayor Merriam Molala disagreed in public on the dismissal of Gafane.
Ntsoane said petrol cards and the official vehicle were handled by a fleet manager and he can’t be blamed for any fraudulent activities as only the fleet manager drives the vehicle.
The report found that on October 10 the same petrol card was used to purchase tyres at a cost of R3,616 while the car had a mechanical breakdown with repairs estimated at R135,025.97.
The report also found Ntsoane made use of the rented municipal vehicle to perform rituals. It concluded that it was evident the official petrol card and municipal vehicle had been misused.
Municipality spokesperson Kgadi Maubane said the municipality remains committed to clean and accountable administration and “would not hesitate to commission investigations if there are grounds to do so”.
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