Johannesburg - The North West standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) has vowed to crack the whip on municipalities that fail to criminally charge officials responsible for investing municipal funds with VBS Mutual Bank.
Scopa’s decision comes as an ANC councillor in North West, Michael Mkhandawira, of the Dr Ruth Mompati District Municipality in Vryburg, called for his mayor, Boitumelo Mahlangu, to be charged along with municipal manager Jerry Mononela and former chief financial officer Segomotso Phatudi.
Mkhandawira - who is a member of the municipal public accounts committee - said Mahlangu should be charged for her submission to Scopa that she, Mononela and Phatudi took a decision to invest with VBS in March last year.
The municipality on February 19 this year invested R100million following the approval by Phatudi and Mononela. The investment was for six months at an interest rate of 9.25%.
On March 2, Mononela and Phatudi made a second investment of R50m and the interest rate was at 9%. According to insiders, Phatudi, exactly 10 days after making the second investment, sent a request for immediate withdrawal of the invested R150m.
Insiders said she made that decision on the same day the municipality received communication from the curator that VBS had been placed under administration.
In July last year the municipality invested R60m for three months and received over R61m last October, which included interest of more than R1m.