A case of fraud has been opened against Nketoana local municipality speaker Buyisiwe Makoba, who was paid nearly R64,000 in subsistence and travel claims — despite producing scant evidence of having undertaken all of the trips.
Sources within the municipality allege that Makoba submitted claims for travelling to various events in the Free State in her Ford Ranger. However, claims were not accompanied by the correct paperwork — such as an invitation and copy of the attendance register as proof of attendance.
“Attaching an invitation is easy because she could find any invitation and submit it. But some of these events she attended are irrelevant to her work as speaker, such as an event held by the department of justice,” said a municipal source.
TimesLIVE Premium has scrutinised claims submitted by Makoba for trips to events between October 2023 and June. They included an imbizo by the department of justice in Bethlehem on May 29.
They included trips to Bethlehem, amounts ranging between R1,100 to more than R1,900, two trips to Qwa Qwa with claims of R3,500 and R4,200, a trip to Johannesburg (R5,114) and several to Bloemfontein (R9,400 up to R10,200).
Based on the claims, she received almost R64,000 for travelling 12 times between October 2023 and June.
Another discrepancy was that she did not sign as the claimant in the submitted forms.
Municipal manager Mokete Nhlapo allegedly approved the claims, signing as both head of department and municipal manager.
Nhlapo also submitted a claim of R3,867 for travelling to a meeting in Bloemfontein in which he too did not sign as the claimant but only as municipal manager and head of department. His claim differed substantially to those by Makoba for trips to Bloemfontein.
“When they do the expenditure report in council, this issue of her claims is not included. It is covered up even though it is one of the municipal expenditures. We have tried to table it to council, but she doesn’t want to include it in the council agenda,” alleged a ward councillor who wished to remain anonymous.
A general worker at the municipality’s water network went to the Petrus Steyn police station on Friday to open a case of fraud against the speaker.
As a municipal worker, he found it questionable that the speaker was not the signatory of her own travel claims. He alleged that a photocopy of an invitation was submitted as proof of one invitation.
“When I look at the claims, I can see that these claims were done irregularly,” he alleged.
“What concerns me is that the people working in the speaker’s office are the ones signing for these claims on her behalf. Also, how do we know that the money paid out goes into the right account? I want the police to do a thorough investigation and look at all the submitted claims that were paid by the municipality.
“Should law enforcement probe this, they will uncover a lot of things when it comes to travelling claims. These amounts claimed are so different even though she is travelling to the same place ... I believe that as a worker, I have rights to report any issues that happen at my workplace that are not done correctly,” he said.
Makoba strongly denied the allegations against her, adding her claims were all paid with no issues raised by the municipal manager. She said her personal assistant signed for such claims as she processed them on her behalf.
“I am not in any position to answer questions. My claims are being approved by the municipal manager, and I am a speaker and have a personal assistant in my office. If there are any discrepancies, the personal assistant and the municipal manager should have seen that on time. You cannot approve anything without any supporting documents because we know when audit time comes, it will be questioned and there will be queries. Hence I say, it is the municipal manager who should answer.”
Nhlapo did not respond to questions, despite undertaking to do so on Friday.
The municipality made headlines about two weeks ago when it was revealed that mayor Mamiki Mokoena allegedly travelled almost 7,000km between May 18 and June 18 in a rented Toyota Fortuna.
This cost the municipality about R100,000. Invoices showed the vehicle rented from Avis cost R64,893 for the month, while R35,263 was spent on fuel.
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