ANC mayor to go ahead with ‘shameless’ R1.5 million luxury vehicle purchase: DA
The Democratic Alliance says that the eMalahleni Municipality has reversed its decision not to purchase a R1.5 million luxury vehicle for its new mayor, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, and will now take delivery of the vehicle.
Earlier in the month, ANC Provincial secretary Mandla Ndlovu said that buying a new vehicle was no longer on the council’s agenda, and encouraged the mayor to consider an “affordable” vehicle when the time comes to change her current vehicle.
The DA had previously urged the ANC led council not to waste money on luxury purchases, and instead to use the money for service delivery.
The mayor of the DA-led City of Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, recently put a stop to the purchase and lease of luxury vehicles for politicians.
No new luxury cars will be bought or leased for politicians in Tshwane, the DA mayor said in a statement last month.
If vehicles currently owned by Tshwane require replacement, sensible and low-cost vehicles will be procured.
“A Hyundai i20 or Toyota Corolla can do the same job for a politician as an expensive sedan,” Msimanga said.
Read: Why public officials should drive luxury cars: ANC Youth League
The Tshwane ANC Youth League however, accused Msimanga of political grandstanding over his cancelling of the City’s partnership with BMW to ensure officials drove cheaper cars.
ANCYL regional chairperson Lesego Makhubela said the DA-led municipality was trying to reverse the gains the ANC had made in improving the lives of black children.
“We are further convinced that the cutting of the so-called ‘luxury cars’ is political grandstanding at its best and it is speedily ricocheting to expose how politically bankrupt the racist Democratic Alliance is,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
Makhubela said BMW’s Rosslyn plant, near the Soshanguve and Garankuwa townships, at one stage in 2011 had employed more than 3,700 people, and manufactured more than 53,000 BMW 3 Series cars.
The DA said in a statement on Thursday: “The mayor’s insistence on the car is a shameless slap in the face to the people of eMalahleni who to this day battle to survive in a municipality where service delivery is virtually non-existent. It also begs the question of whether or not the car has already been bought.”
“The DA will continue to do everything possible to ensure that money that is meant for the people is spent on the people. We will not sit back and let the ANC brazenly squander public funds at the expense of the people,” the political party said.
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