The Democratic Alliance (DA) demands urgent intervention and consequence management for those municipal officials and politicians involved in the decision by the Enoch Mgijima Municipality to purchase a luxury vehicle for the mayor at a cost of R1,2 million.
Enoch Mgijima is currently under a National Government Financial Recovery Plan due to its inability to meet basic financial obligations. The municipality owes Eskom R1,6 billion, resulting in repeated electricity outages, severely disrupting service delivery. Over the past five financial years, the municipality has been operating with an unfunded budget due to the escalating Eskom debt and has consistently received qualified audit opinions.
Despite this municipal collapse, the municipality still went ahead and purchased a vehicle at R500,000 above National Treasury’s prescribed upper limit of R700,000 for mayoral vehicles.
I have written to the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Zolile Williams, and the MEC for Finance, Mlungisi Mvoko, to invoke Section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and enforce consequence management against municipal officials and political office bearers who authorised the purchase.
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We have also urged the offices of both MECs to request the Auditor-General to assess whether this constitutes a material irregularity and to issue legally binding action (certificate of debt) if required.
On 26 June 2025, MEC Williams wrote to the municipality requesting reasons for incurring what is clearly unauthorised, irregular, and wasteful expenditure.
In its response dated 2 July 2025, the municipality claimed the purchase was “above board,” arguing that the 2019 Treasury cost limit had not been adjusted for inflation or market fluctuations. This justification is both flawed and dangerous. Until amended, Treasury regulations remain binding, and municipalities have no authority to unilaterally override them.
The municipality has now disclosed the purchase of the vehicle as unauthorised expenditure in its Annual Financial Statements and referred the matter to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) for investigation. While this disclosure is legally required, it does not absolve senior officials or political office bearers from accountability.
For a municipality in such dire financial distress to spend R1,2 million on a luxury vehicle is a blatant insult to the residents who continue to endure failing service delivery, collapsing infrastructure, and persistent power failures.
The residents of Enoch Mgijima deserve responsible leadership and not luxury cars funded by public money.