The MANAGER of Thukela District Municipality, Mr. Langelihle Jili, signed the agreement without reading it properly which led to the confiscation of the council’s bank account.
Jili told members of the Parliamentary committee responsible for the operation of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Indigenous Affairs that he did not know that the agreement had a condition that if the municipality violates the agreement, it must pay all the interest on the debt of millions of rands.
Jili and council officials appeared before a committee in Parliament in Cape Town yesterday.
Jili’s explanation left the committee members speechless.
The chairman of the committee, Dr Zweli Mkhize, asked Jili how he signed the agreement without reading it.
“You are telling us that you did not know that there is a condition that says if the municipality fails to pay, you must pay all the interest? This means that you signed the agreement without reading it. How did you make such a mistake,” asked Mkhize.
The municipality was deprived of its bank account after it failed to keep the agreement to pay RASP Consulting.
The municipality owes RASP Consulting more than R120 million.
According to the agreement, the municipality had to pay RASP Consulting R3 million every month.
The municipality failed to keep this agreement in December which led to the closure of the council’s bank account.
The High Court in Pietermaritzburg has recently decided that the municipality has not returned its account.
The council officials told the committee members that the terms were not followed when RASP Consulting was awarded the tender in 2021.
Council officials said there was no evidence to show that RASP Consulting actually did the work it wanted to be paid for.
The members of the committee suggested that an investigation be carried out on the way the municipality handled this issue.
Mkhize said they want the matter to be investigated by the Auditor and the Department of Finance in KwaZulu-Natal.
“In 2023, there was a letter written by the former manager of the municipality, where he said that the municipality could no longer cooperate with this company. But the municipality continued to cooperate with it,” said Mkhize.
A member of the committee, Mrs. Cathlene Labuschagne, suggested that the matter be investigated by the Special Investigating Unit.
“There has been no investigation by the municipality on this matter and I have lost hope that the municipality will do anything about it. It is clear that no one will be prosecuted,” said Labuschagne.