The salary payments made to the convicted councillor of Matatiele Local Municipality has been described as irregular expenditure and unlawful by the Eastern Cape MEC of COGTA, Xolile Nqatha. The Hon. MEC has since issued a directive to the Matatiele Local Municipality to terminate the salary of the convicted former ward 14 Councillor with immediate effect. Former councillor Sibongiseni Baba was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The Hon MEC received the information from a Whistle-blower who informed him that Matatiele Local Municipality continued to pay former councillor’s salary despite his conviction. The municipality has confirmed that the salaries for the months of May and June 2021 were indeed paid.
“It is brought to the attention of the Municipal Council that Section 158 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa read in conjunction with Section 47 (l)(e) of the same act states that every citizen who is qualified to vote for a Municipal Council is eligible to be a member of a municipal council, except when he is convicted and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine
Any payment of salary therefore that is made to the former councillor will be declared an irregular expenditure by the Auditor General and there should be consequence management to that effect. This could mean either the municipal manager or council could be held liable for that expenditure,” said MEC Nqatha.
MEC Nqatha has also instructed the municipality to notify the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of the status of the former councillor that in terms of law he is no longer a councillor of Matatiele Local Municipality. The municipality has been further requested to furnish the department with a report within seven days as to whether the above has been actioned and how the municipality is planning to recoup the money that has already been irregularly paid to the former councillor.
Baba was sentenced to ten years by the Mount Fletcher Magistrate Court last month for rape and is appealing the sentence. MEC said it would be unlawful for the council to keep him as a councillor on their payroll.
