“It appears as if resorting to the streets is the only language that our government understands.”
THE COLESBERG community are preparing to return to the streets to protest over delays over the release of a forensic investigation into allegations of corruption at Umsobomvu municipality.
Members of the Umsobomvu Community Forum pointed out that the investigation started on January 5 and should have been completed by January 22.
“It appears as if resorting to the streets is the only language that our government understands. The community is becoming impatient.
“We have been waiting for the report. We fail to understand why this process is taking forever while the Premier acted very quickly to resolve the crisis at Renosterberg Municipality.”
The community wants action to be taken into a Hawks investigation into the theft of municipal funds in February 2019 as well as R5 million that was allegedly lost or stolen from the municipal coffers.
They added that officials who stole from the municipality appeared to be protected from the wrath of the law.
“The municipality must stop with all recruitment processes, awarding tenders and prevent counsellors from becoming employment agencies. We do not want to find ourselves in a situation that would be out of our hands and wish to find an amicable solution.”
Spokesperson for the Department of Coghsta, Lerato Khuno said the situation was “well under controlled and managed”.
“The department is communicating with the municipality and the Umsobomvu Community Forum.
“The investigation is still in progress and external entities have been contacted for further investigation, as well as verifying the information gathered.”
She added that the investigation team was constituted of officials from Provincial Treasury, Coghsta and the South African Local Government Association.
