Senior officials at the Alfred Nzo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape are pulling all the stops trying to find out how the Executive Mayors’ son received a bursary from this municipality which is meant for the poor. On Thursday morning, people in the Alfred Nzo woke up to a scandal where a letter exposing the Alfred Nzo District Municipality paying school fees for Sixolile Mehlomakhulu’s son, Yanga Mehlomakhulu at Wits University. The letter is doing rounds on social media. The document titled RE: 2020 Bursary award letter for Mr Yanga Mehlomakhulu was signed by the Municipal Manager, Zamile Sikhundla on the 28th of January 2020.
“This serves to confirm that Alfred Nzo District Municipality undertakes to pay the study costs of the above mentioned student with ID 0101115643088 for the 2020 academic year. The bursary will cover Tuition fees, Books and accommodation. The bursary does not cover accommodation and meals which are not administered by your institution. The Municipality will pay R65,223.00 for meals, tuition accommodation and including books.
Please note that the payment will be done direct to the institution concerned, so it is crucial that you request them to include Municipal Vat No: 4500157377,” the letter said.
The letter is circulating together with the proof of payment which shows that an amount of R65, 223.00 was actioned on the 27 March 2020 at 13:28 to university0of0t with a refenceEF00306500010AL. In an interview, Municipal Manager Zamile Sikhundla said they will release a media statement after an internal investigation has been conducted. Although he did not want to comment further Sikhundla said it is strange that a Mayor‘s child would benefit to a scheme designated for the needy and poor. “That is why we want to investigate this before commenting further,” said Sikhundla.
Meanwhile Executive Mayor Sixolile Mehlomakhulu described the document circulating on social media as a mischief to tarnish his name. “I paid my son’s registration in January at the University and got the accommodation outside the university with self- catering of which I also paid there in person. I never applied even for NSFAS funds, how then would I allow the Municipality to pay for my son.
The other thing, I used to announce the names of beneficiaries of the bursary in a Mayoral Committee and Council. I have never announced my son’s name; there was never a Mehlomakhulu that I announced as the beneficiary of the Alfred Nzo District Municipality Bursary Scheme.
Mehlomakhulu said after the circulation of this document he has requested the university to bring the municipal funds back to the municipality as this would mean double payment.
The informer has seen proof of payment which is a receipt number 302372 from the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg amounting to R9340 which was paid on the 20th of January 2020. The other pop that the informer has seen is the transaction from First National Bank Sixolile Mehlomakhulu FNB Gold Cheque account actioned on the 27/01/2020 at 10:23 amounting to R61,814.00. This amount was paid to a Nedbank account with account holder The Campus and a reference of Yanga Mehlomakhulu. At the moment it is not clear if who is fooling who in this matter Municipal Spokesperson Lixolile Petela said a full statement will be given to the media after the results of the investigations.
