The Democratic Alliance says that the ANC Mayor of Molemole,\u00a0located in the Capricorn District Municipality of Limpopo province, has bought himself a Mercedes Benz GLE 4\u00d74 costing R1 million.<\/p>\n
The political party noted that the Molemole Speaker, Mpelege Moreroa, has also taken delivery of a 4\u00d74 costing more than R500,000.<\/p>\n
It said that the municipality – which has a population of around only 100,000 people – spends most of its budget on salaries, and only 27% on service delivery.<\/p>\n
“National Treasury requires Municipalities to spend upwards of 60% of their budgets on service delivery, but Molemole falls enormously short of this,” the DA said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“To make matters worse, the Mayor is about to be assigned a private driver to chauffeur him around in his luxury Mercedes 4\u00d74, all at public expense. The process of employing new drivers will be discussed in the next council sitting,” it said.<\/p>\n
The DA said that Molemole is failing in the delivery of services, address the drought crisis, improve opportunities and creating jobs. “The ANC led municipality continues to put ANC cadre\u2019s self-interest and luxury comforts first before the interests of the residents of Molemole,” it said.<\/p>\n
A number of ANC mayors have taken delivery of luxury vehicles since the municipal elections in August. This is in contrast to the DA policy. 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.<\/p>\n
No new luxury cars would be bought or leased for politicians in Tshwane, the DA mayor said following his election in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Hyundai i20 or Toyota Corolla can do the same job for a politician as an expensive sedan,\u201d Msimanga said.<\/p>\n
The mayor discovered the procurement of 10 new luxury BMW vehicles for the previous ANC administration soon after coming into office.<\/p>\n
He promptly redirected the new vehicles to a newly-formed Anti-hijack Unit within the Tshwane Metro Police Department.<\/p>\n