It is time for Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya to stop dodging questions about her ANC deputy mayor and finance MMC Eugene ‘Bonzo’ Modise, and release the city’s findings on his alleged unlawful conduct.
The Sunday Times reports that an internal investigation by Tshwane has found that Modise may have failed to disclose and divest his interest in a company that provides ‘watchman’ services to the municipality.
Under the provisions of the Municipal Finance Management Act, it is unlawful for a councillor to have a financial interest in a service provider of the municipality.
A special council meeting was scheduled by the mayor for Thursday last week. The DA expected the report into Modise’s Triotic interests to serve at this meeting. But the meeting was suddenly cancelled on Wednesday evening.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) first raised concerns about Modise’s links to Triotic in February this year. Mayor Moya committed to investigating the matter, but Modise has continued to serve in his role as finance MMC.
In June, the DA also reported the irregular extension of municipality security contracts to the auditor-general. This included Tshwane’s contract with Triotic. The City has since declared R170 million related to these contracts as irregular expenditure.
The DA has launched another probe into whether Tshwane is preventing a cut-off of services to a property leased by another Modise-linked company Mzansi Resorts (the former Morula Sun). Tshwane is owed R23 million in arrear property rates and water on the property.
The owner is the North West Housing Corporation, but under a lease agreement Mzansi Resorts is responsible for the municipal bill on the property. Either way, services to Mzansi Resorts have not been cut. Moya has also dodged questions about this issue.
If there is an internal report in Tshwane that implicates Modise in failing to disclose and divest his interest in a company doing business with the municipality, Moya should already have fired him as finance MMC. In the meantime, the DA believes that there is sufficient grounds for us to submit a motion of no confidence in Modise. We have given Moya sufficient time to exercise leadership on the issue.