SA's richest mayor works for free

Millionaire Philani Mavundla is arguably South Africa's richest mayor - and has turned down a salary to work for free.

The newly elected mayor of Greytown, a small bustling town in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, this week revealed that he had rejected his R700000 mayoral salary and perks.

Instead he wants the money used to upgrade the town's pothole-riddled roads and create small jobs.

"What's the point of driving in a big black expensive municipal car when ratepayers live in poverty," he said.

According to the Integrated Development Plan report, which serves as a strategic guide for development for the municipality, more than 50% of Greytown's estimated 92300 population is unemployed, while 24% earns less than R18000 a year in wages.

"Quite frankly, is there a need to drive a R600000 municipal owned car when some people go to bed without food," said Mavundla.

The 43-year-old mayor, who many business owners in the town regard as a billionaire by virtue of his business interests that range from construction to commercial farming, is even investing his own personal fortune into building a private hospital in Greytown.

The town has a state-owned 207-bed district hospital, Greytown Hospital, which also services rural communities around the town.

The provincial department of health has already approved Mavundla's application for a 50-bed hospital, which will also feature a helipad. His other project includes building the town's biggest shopping mall.

This week Mavundla boasted that his family owns Greytown.

"We have invested substantially in Greytown ... we own a fair share of Greytown," he said.

Mavundla's property portfolio in the town includes five massive commercial farms, a luxury hotel and lodge, known as Propaganda, and several businesses.

His family, two wives and 11 children, divide their time between his two palatial compounds, within a short distance of each other. The one home near the town centre features 14 bedrooms and a private cinema and is estimated to be worth more than R10-million.

His other mansion has 27 bedrooms, 12 lounges, two swimming pools, gyms, a private cinema, and a garage for 12 cars.

Although he declined to disclose the value of this property, he boasted: "I've got the most expensive homes in Greytown."

The super-rich mayor also owns several commercial buildings and homes in Durban.

Born in a village, Lilani, near Greytown, Mavundla dropped out of school and sold tripe, bananas and mealie meal in Claremont in Durban in the 1980s. "I grew up being called banana boy," he said.

But the enterprising youngster soon secured an apprenticeship as a boilermaker in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg.

"It was where my love for engineering started," he said.

Determined to succeed, Mavundla got involved in several government projects and was later involved in a company called Rainbow Construction which was awarded a R129-million contract for the construction of the multimillion-rand C-Max security prison in Kokstad.

"I've never looked back," he said.

Today, Mavundla's company, PG Mavundla Engineering, has been involved in numerous projects, including the R8-billion King Shaka International Airport, and the estimated R1-billion Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom.

Mavundla's company has a R1.2-billion stake in the construction of Eskom's R8.9-billion Ingula Power Station on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

But the mayor, who slaughtered 20 cattle to celebrate President Jacob Zuma's ascendancy to the presidency in 2009, said as long as he ran the municipality like a business, he'd achieve enormous success in turning the town around.

This week, barely a month in office, he launched an investigation against several municipal officials for alleged financial irregularities.

DA councillor Paul Buss said despite Mavundla's good intentions, the party would be keeping a watchful eye on him.