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The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants the Speaker of the ZF Mgcawu District Municipality investigated for wasteful and fruitless expenditure incurred to the value of R115 000 for overnight accommodation, food and the rental of halls for a strategic planning session, in addition to a flopped attempt at taking council to the people.

This comes after a strategic planning session that was arranged to take place at a resort in Groblershoop on Monday, 28 March 2022, started late and ended a day early, on request of the Speaker, Cllr Stanley Petersen. This caused what should have been a productive, 12-hour interactive session to become four hours of glorified presentations made to council members.

The very next day, the council session, which was advertised at a cost, to start at 11:00, was rescheduled to start at 09:00. The public, for whom the council meeting had actually been scheduled in Groblershoop, were never informed of the time change and by the time they arrived, the council meeting was over.

The entire two days culminated in wasteful and fruitless expenditure of municipal and financial resources. We are of the view that the strategic planning session never served its purpose while the community was also never granted a fair opportunity for public participation, as it should have been.

The DA will refer the matter to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) for investigation and to determine whether there was any value for money obtained from the R115 000 splurge, due to the last minute changes enforced by the Speaker. Ultimately, someone needs to be held accountable for squandering public money.

Issued by Deeyone de Koker, Cllr - ZF Mcgawu District municipality