By Thabo Monyela
GIYANI- Mopani District Municipality manager, Quiete Kgatla resigned on Tuesday, February 08 after being implicated in the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report for approving an irregular payment of R3.1 million to Twin Conner Construction CC for incomplete work.
Kgatla’s resignation came two days prior the district council could sit on Thursday, February 10 to discuss and implement the recommendations made by SC Mdhluli (council’s appointed legal team).
According to an authoritative source within the council, Kgatle was found to be in misconduct of irregular and wasteful expenditure during his tenure as municipal CFO by authorising a total amount of R3.1 million for the drilling, equipping, and electrification of boreholes to supply water to various villages in Mopani, however as opposed to the tender instruction document, the transformers were not installed by the service provider.
It is said that the resigned District senior manager was not aware and neither did he receive a red flag concerning the incomplete services that Twin corner rendered and the payment authorisation was largely dependent on the project’s verification made by the satellite manager.
Implicated also in the fruitless and wasteful expenditure scandal, is the Tzaneen-based District satellite Manager Emanuel Ratshitanga, who according to the council appointed legal team, is responsible for the verification of projects’ completion and certification of the invoice and then forward it to the finance for the payment procession.
“The satellite manager gave the municipality an impression that the work is done in accordance with the instruction document, however, it was not and the municipality doesn’t have a system to track its projects, “the source said.
Ratshitanga is not a stranger to municipal financial misconduct. In 2018, The Citizen reported that he was suspended along with Solomon Rasethe, after being accused of fabricating the drilling of boreholes and issuing invoices for 4,820 boreholes that were not constructed, which cost a total of more than R100 Million to their families and political allies.
Our source has it that the council’s appointed legal minds have advised the council to initiate disciplinary hearings against the controversial Ratshitanga.
Mopani District Executive Mayor Cllr Shayi and Mr Quite Kgatle during council Meeting
In a media statement, Mopani District Executive Mayor, Cllr Shayi showed gratitude to Kgatle for his service.
“Though relatively young, Mr. Kgatla has proved to be a skilled and hard-working administrator,” Shayi said.
The council that seated on February 10 approved the appointment of Tshepo Mogano as the acting Municipal Manager.
The district municipality will be expected to recover the fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
No criminal charges were instituted against those fingered in the deliberate negligence of fruitless and wasteful expenditure in time of publishing.
