Statement by Sarah Mabotsa, GOOD’s Mayoral Candidate for the Tshwane Metro
15 September 2021
Property professional Sarah Mabotsa, a resident of Centurion, is GOOD’s candidate for Mayor of Tshwane. She supports the Public Protector’s recommendation that Tshwane must stop and recover the money wasted through multi-million Rand salaries being paid to irregularly appointed, unqualified people. She says “it is time to stop Tshwane wasting billions of Rands of our money through irregular expenditure. We need to stop that and divert the money back into service delivery to get the City working”.
I am humbled to have been selected as GOOD’s Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane and wish to assure all residents of our City that I will work hard to fix what is wrong – and bring services to those who have none.
I am not a career politician, but my desire to fix our country and my faith in politics has been rekindled by watching Patricia de Lille begin to clean up her department. Public Works has a long history of problems – funding Nkandla, inflating state funeral costs, spending millions on leather furniture, and much else. The Director-General, who was previously fired from government in 2013 for his role in leasing deals, was suspended by de Lille following the Beitbridge debacles last year.
I have spent decades working at senior levels in the public service and I know from experience that the only way to fix a bad government is to get good leaders in at the top so that they can sweep it clean.
I grew up in Tembisa and am a graduate of Venda and Wits Universities. As a student, I studied some political studies, but specialised in property management and worked professionally in that sector for a long time. But when GOOD asked for ordinary South Africans to step up and help fix our country, I knew I could help.
Tshwane is in a mess. The Auditor-General reported that R2,9 billion was lost to irregular expenditure in the 2019/2020 financial year. International rating agency Moodys downgraded the metro by four notches this year. The City is bankrupt and we have to fix it – fast.
I am committed to cleaning up government and stopping tender fraud. This is possible with the right leaders – we can implement better oversight on spending; ensure clean, public, open bidding processes; and professionalise the public service so that it is accountable, efficient, and transparent.
These simple steps will save us all billions of Rands and mean we can build a City that works – a City with working streetlights, working robots, decent roads, affordable electricity, and a reliable supply of water that is safe to drink.
This is no pipe dream. We have enough money to do this, but at the moment, that money is being wasted.
For example, between 2016 and 2020, the DA-led Tshwane Council, supported by the EFF, increased the City’s salary bill by 55%. The costs have gone up from R6.9bn in 2016 to more than R10.5bn in 2020. These additional billions in salaries are raised through more expensive water, electricity and rates costs. These billions come from your pockets.
Civic action organisations such as Outa are justifiably concerned that some increases are just agreed to by DA politicians rather than by the City Manager.
Another example is appointing people without qualifications. Mr Previn Govender, the head of Tshwane Emergency Services, was appointed in 2017 on a 5-year contract, earning more than R2 million per year.
Last year, the Public Protector investigation ordered the Tshwane Council to set aside Mr Govender’s appointment. The Public Protector’s investigation discovered that “Mr Govender did not meet the appointment requirements for the post of Chief of Emergency as stipulated in the Job Advertisement for the post and in terms of section 56 of the Municipal Systems Act.”
Not qualified for the post, his appointment and payment for his salary are deemed irregular. The Public Protector in December 2020 ordered Tshwane Council to “initiate legal action to review and set aside the appointment of Mr Govender”, “initiate a process of recovering a proportionate and reasonable portion of the amount paid to Mr Govender” and “initiate a process of recruiting a suitably qualified person for the post.”
But yesterday’s reports confirm that, almost a year later, Mr Govender is still getting his salary. More irregular expenditure on top of the millions already paid to him.
The Auditor-General found that Tshwane lost R2.9 billion of our money to irregular expenditure in the 2019/20 financial year. Irregular appointments of unqualified staff are part of that problem, as the investigation from the Public Protector proves.
Instead of hiring unqualified people into multi-million Rand positions, we have to professionalise the public service. We have to stop the corruption and hire the right people, with the right qualifications and experience.
We must take back our City from the looters and fix it. A GOOD government will stop the waste and redirect your money back into service delivery. Working cities are places where people can find work. Let’s fix Tshwane and get it working.
Media enquiries:
– Sarah Mabotsa: 064 684 8640
– Sam Shabane: 078 621 4042 sams@forgood.org.za
– Mark Rountree: 082 880 4393 markr@forgood.org.za