A Free State mayor is said to have travelled 7,000km in one month in a rental car, costing the municipality approximately R100,000 in one month.
According to an invoice and fuel card seen by GroundUp, Nketoana Municipality Mayor Mamiki Mokoena travelled 69,292km in a rented Avis Toyota Fortuner between 18 May and 18 June this year. The Avis invoice suggests she was charged R64,893 in rental for the car for the month, while bank fuel cards show she spent R35,263 on fuel during the period.
This is in response to two accidents in which municipal cars were completely destroyed.
In August 2021, Mokoena’s BMW 4-series was involved in an accident. The mayor then appears to have rented a car until August 2023, when a new car, a Haval H9, was purchased. During that time, a source in the municipality said R850,000 was spent on car rental.
The new car was involved in an accident in November 2023 and Mokoena has been renting one out ever since, first a Ford Everest and then a Fortuner.
Fuel transactions on May 20, 2024, show the car was filled with 67.1 liters of diesel. The odometer reading was 19,800 km. A day later, the car was refilled with 53.9 liters of fuel, but the odometer reading was 19,900, suggesting the car had only been driven 100 km.
The records also show that on 21 July the odometer reading was 20,804 km and that 64.45 litres of fuel were put into the tank in Pretoria at a cost of R1,382.65. The next time fuel was purchased was three days later on 24 July. However, on this date, when 76.6 litres of fuel were purchased for R1,665.05 in Heilbron, the odometer reading was 20,764 km, which was 40 km less than before.
Furthermore, the mayor appears to have spent almost the entire month of July in Gauteng. Between 30 June and 7 August, fuel was purchased in Pretoria or Westdene, with the exception of 24 July, when fuel was purchased in Heilbron in the Free State, although Heilbron is outside the Nketoana Local Municipality.
Asked for comment, Phillip Nkomo, the mayor’s adviser, said the municipality was in the process of buying her a new car. “We are going to use the money paid by the insurance to buy a new car. We are waiting for the supply chain process and that could take eight weeks,” he said.
Asked to explain the mayor’s spending, he asked who had provided the information to the media. “I wonder if this is just a personal vendetta to plot against the mayor or to prove how corrupt she is,” Nkomo said.
“It is not good to always write bad things about the mayor. You have to remember that she is a mother to someone and ruining her reputation affects the children. I will discuss it with the mayor and come back to you on the issues of the bill and then respond,” he said.
On 21 August, Nkomo called municipal manager Mokete Nhlapo, who was also on the line. Nhlapo promised to send the information by the end of the day, but did not. Reporters called both of them the next day, but they did not answer their phones. A message was left on Nkomo’s WhatsApp, but he ignored it.
DA councillor Diphapang Mofokeng said the party had asked for an accident report and details of the cost of the rented vehicle, but the municipality had not provided the information. He said the DA also wanted confirmation that the car had been used for municipal business. Mofokeng said the logbook had not been properly maintained.
The Court of Audit’s report on Nketoana m for the 2022/23 financial year states that the municipality’s declared irregular expenditure amounted to R480 million and that irregular expenditure of R427 million was declared in the 2021/2022 financial year.
There was R980m of unauthorised expenditure in the 2022/23 financial year, up from R811m in the previous financial year. Again, the report notes that there was insufficient audit evidence to confirm the amount stated.
The municipality made a net loss of R170m for the period ending 30 June 2023 and its liabilities exceeded its assets by R740m. There was also R47.6m of fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the 2022/23 financial year, which was due to interest and penalties on overdue accounts.
This article has been updated to correct an earlier version that stated 70,000 km were traveled in a month instead of 7,000 km.
GroundUp
Tladi Moloi
www.sowetanlive.co.za
