Massive budget for municipal games

EYEBROWS have been raised over Sol Plaatje municipal officials being allowed to participate in week-long trip to the municipal games in Mpumalanga with an estimated budget of R1.5 million.

It has not been confirmed who funded the trip.

An item was put up for discussion on September 12 for the approval of 160 Sol Plaatje employees and councillors to attend the municipal games in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, from September 26 until October 1.

The municipal teams compete in friendly games as part of employee wellness, team building, networking and recreation.

Council had projected that an estimated budget of R1.5 million was needed to fund the trip.

It was indicated that the sporting budget was allocated R500 000 and additional funding was required to fund the full costs of the games, which could only be done by moving funds between financial accounts or part of a budget.

It was estimated that accommodation would amount to between R550 000 and R770 000 depending on the cost per room sharing.

Transport was quoted in the region of R200 000 to R300 000 while the SA Municipal Sports and Recreation Association (Samsra) affiliation fee amounted to R6 000 and subsistence allowances were estimated to be R336 000 for six days.

It was proposed that in light of cost-containment restrictions, staff should be allowed to sell their accumulated leave to pay for their subsistence allowances.

Special leave would be granted to all participants.

It was noted that National Treasury on June 7, 2019 had prohibited municipalities from funding sporting activities because of fiscal constraints.

It was advised that the funds be raised from sponsorships or municipal goods and services suppliers.

In 2019, council resolved to divert any funds allocated to the Samsra annual games or sporting-related activities to service delivery.

Tumelo Mosikare, from the Sol Plaatje Community Forum, condemned the wasteful expenditure.

“The municipality is always crying that it does not have money and yet it has money to waste on frivolous activities that do not form part of the core function of the municipality. This was nothing less than a joy ride, while there is never money for essential services,.” said Mosikare.

DA caucus chairperson at Sol Plaatje Municipality, Elize Niemann, said they would request the MEC for Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Cogshta), Bentley Vass, to immediately address the “fruitless and wasteful expenditure”. “The budget of R1.5 million to send 160 employees and 19 councillors to the week-long Samsra municipal games was never approved by council,” said Niemann.

“The DA was ready to oppose the notion that R1.5 million could be allocated for these games. Council failed to conclude its sitting held on September 23 due to the unforeseen illness of the Speaker. A decision was not taken to allocate any funding to these games.

“We do not think that the municipality can possibly justify wasting R1.5 million on fun and games when residents and ratepayers are frequently left without basic services.”

Niemann stated that these costs should be recouped from the officials’ personal accounts.

“The public purse cannot be used as a personal piggy bank. According to our information, the trip was funded by the municipality and officials, including EPWP workers, employees who started working for the municipality three months ago and the choir also participated in the trip.

“Employees are not permitted to cash in their leave as the municipality is cash-strapped.

“The DA will request that this matter must be addressed at the next council meeting. We need to know who is responsible for this wasteful expenditure and which officials embarked on the trip.

“We will not accept that the misuse of funds will be reported as a deviation in the next council meeting or that there was not enough time to run this item through supply chain management for approval.”

Coghsta could not be reached for comment.

Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesperson Thoko Riet explained that the municipal games were not funded by the municipality.

“Officials were given special leave and were allowed to sell their leave to fund their subsistence allowances,” said Riet.

“The teams have had numerous fund-raising activities prior to the trip which raised funds for the trip.”