The flashy clothing worn by a senior Buffalo City Metro administration official when Scopa officials visited the city last week has put the spotlight on the metro bosses’ lifestyles.
Now, Scopa — parliament’s finance watchdog committee — not only wants special audits conducted on all stalled BCM infrastructure development projects, it also wants lifestyle audits of all senior metro executives and mayoral committee members, “as in yesterday”.
Scopa’s demands came after the committee of multiparty MPs were left “stunned and shocked” to see one of the city’s general managers wearing expensive designer clothing allegedly worth a total of R240,000 over the two days of the oversight visit.
Scopa chair Songezo Zibi and his committee, who believed the flashy administrator appeared to be living beyond his salary range, now wants BCM to conduct a lifestyle audit on all mayoral committee members, senior executives, supply chain, project management, finance and infrastructure directorate officials.
Zibi said the MPs had noted the general manager was wearing clothing with a combined price tag of about R115,000 on the first day of their sojourn, when they visited a number of projects around the city, and a designer T-shirt, jeans and sneakers together reportedly worth more than R125,000 on the second day.
The sneakers alone were said to be priced at more than R55,000.
The official could not be named as he could not be reached for comment.
Speaking to the Dispatch on Tuesday, Zibi confirmed the MPs’ call for the holding of lifestyle audits had been triggered by the official’s flamboyant gear.
“I saw the official and how flamboyantly he was dressed, but I did not think more about it.
“However, the issue of the price of the clothing he was wearing was brought to my attention by one of the committee members after we had wrapped up our first day of work at the metro.
“The member took photos of this official and did a reverse search of the prices for the clothing he was wearing.
“Again, on the second day, he came wearing a designer black T-shirt, jeans and sneakers said to be worth over R50,000.
“We were told that he is not even a head of directorate, but a general manager, hence we felt the need to have an audit to determine whether people in BCM were living according to what they were earning.”
Zibi said his committee was later informed that the official allegedly owned a number of properties, in East London, Chintsa and Butterworth, and a large number of expensive vehicles “leading us to believe that he was living beyond his salary means”.
In a video he posted following their visit, which also included the OR Tambo district municipality, Zibi said they wanted to see multiple interventions in the municipalities.
“The first is that there are going to be a couple of in depth audits into very specific areas within these municipalities. Secondly the SIU is going to apply either for an expanded proclamation or a new proclamation,” he said.
The SIU is currently doing investigations in the two municipalities.
In BCM, the stalled Mdantsane pool is part of the projects they are probing.
Zibi said they will pen a report which will force the executive to take action and further conduct annual inspections at the municipalities.His team had visited different stalled projects in both municipalities.
The need for lifestyle audits to be conducted was brought up by Scopa member and ANC MP Ntando Maduna, during a meeting with BCM’s political and administration bosses in Gonubie on Friday.
Maduna said BCM officials must be doing their jobs well because it seemed the metro paid them handsomely, judging by what the official was wearing.
Maduna told the Dispatch on Tuesday that as an MP he aspired to wear good clothing but could not afford some of the clothes the official was wearing during the Scopa visit.
“Most of these brands are popular and we as young people know them and how much they cost.
“Even the sneakers, we aspire to have them, but we cannot afford them on our parliamentary salaries, so I was stunned and shocked that a municipal official could be wearing those during our visit.
“I then did a search and discovered the sneakers he wore on those two days were worth over R55,000, while his Amiri jeans cost around $2,200 which, when converted, is just over R40,000.
“I even joked during the Friday meeting that when they advertised for new posts, they should let me know so I could apply, because I noted they must be paying handsomely, if officials at the level of general managers could wear such expensive clothes,” Maduna said.
During the Friday meeting, BCM bosses promised to look into the issue of lifestyle audits.
City spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya refused to comment on Tuesday, saying: “It will be improper to comment on the deliberations of the Scopa meeting outside those conversations.”
DA councillor and chief whip Anathi Majeke said the “rampant culture of impunity and the lack of effective governance necessitates a lifestyle audit of all councillors and municipal officials, especially those involved in the municipality’s procurement processes.
“While lifestyle audits are valuable, they should be part of a broader strategy to address systemic corruption.
“This includes strengthening internal controls, improving transparency and promoting ethical conduct.
“Broadening the scope to include all senior municipal officials acknowledges that corruption can occur across various departments and levels of government.
“Corruption and self-enrichment to the detriment of having essential services delivered to the public is not a victimless crime.
“While they wear expensive watches and Gucci tops, taps in Mdantsane and Nxarhuni run dry.”
ANC councillor and chief whip Ntombizandile Mhlola said her caucus welcomed the audit plans, saying they would go a long way to promoting clean governance in the metro.
But a report needed to be prepared for the council before such a process could be undertaken.
EFF councillor Mziyanda Hlekiso said his party also welcomed the proposed audits.
The metro’s former deputy mayor, the late Zoliswa Matana, had once submitted a motion in the council for lifestyle audits to be conducted, “but that did not go anywhere”.
“We have been wanting such lifestyle audits for some time, and we welcome the directive from Scopa. We hope the council will not ignore the directive, as it did with Matana’s motion.”
Daily Dispatch
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