Today, ActionSA along with members of the community and that of the EThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement – who heeded our call to join our protest – successfully demonstrated and handed over a Memorandum of Demands to the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) Board Chairperson, Mr Glen Mashinini, calling for transparency in the matter where the ICC and the eThekwini Municipality signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to fully fund the ANC Women’s League Conference, by coughing up R5 089 781,90 from tax payer money, which was latter invoiced to the Municipality at a total of R4 794 824,21.
The Municipality previously booked the venue for their Women’s Month Launch event, which was scheduled to take place at the Durban ICC, but was abruptly replaced with the ANCWL conference, however, the MoU between the ICC and Municipality still stood, despite there not being a Women’s Month Launch event hosted by the ICC.
During a Finance Portfolio Committee meeting yesterday, we posed a question to City Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda to confirm whether the Municipality did in fact signed the MoU. Unfortunately, he deflected the question a couple of times, but ultimately cracked under pressure and confirmed that Deputy City Manager Sipho Cele did sign the MoU between the ICC and the Municipality.
Realising his mistake, the Mayor attempted to back-pedal by stating that the Municipal’s event was later cancelled, but holds no ties to the ANCWL conference.
We were informed by the management at the ICC that Mashinini is no longer the Board Chairperson of the ICC as of the 10th of October, nevertheless, in our Memorandum, we highlighted a list of questions that we believe will lead to the dissection of this matter, and allow the ICC to take accountability, as well as those who have participated in this act of corruption by allowing the Municipality to sign the MoU.
There is no clear indication whether the CEO of the ICC, Ms Lindiwe Rakharebe who is the accounting officer was initially aware of such dealings. However, taking into consideration that this took place under her nose, she must have been informed that there were intentions to replace the Women’s Month Launch event with the ANCWL conference.
In our recommendation, we have called on the ICC to:
- Invoice the ANC an amount of R4 795 824.21
- The Board Chairperson and the CEO immediately report this crime to the South African Police Service within 7 days, and open a case of intention to steal public funds.
Failure to do so, we have made it clear that we have no intention to back down, and will table a motion at the next council meeting to remove the entire board at the ICC, as they have not only failed the ratepayers and residents of eThekwini, but have contravened the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, section 93H (1), which describes the:
“The board of directors of a municipal entity must:
- Provide effective, transparency, accountable and coherent corporate governance and conduct effective oversight of the affairs of the municipal entity;
- Ensure that it and the municipal entity comply with all applicable legislation and agreements;
- Communicate openly and promptly with the parent municipality of the municipal entity; and
- Deal with the parent municipality of the municipal entity in good faith.”
ActionSA Hands Memorandum of Demands to Durban ICC Chairperson
Today, ActionSA along with members of the community and that of the EThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement – who heeded our call to join our protest – successfully demonstrated and handed over a Memorandum of Demands to the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) Board Chairperson, Mr Glen Mashinini, calling for transparency in the matter where the ICC and the eThekwini Municipality signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to fully fund the ANC Women’s League Conference, by coughing up R5 089 781,90 from tax payer money, which was latter invoiced to the Municipality at a total of R4 794 824,21.
The Municipality previously booked the venue for their Women’s Month Launch event, which was scheduled to take place at the Durban ICC, but was abruptly replaced with the ANCWL conference, however, the MoU between the ICC and Municipality still stood, despite there not being a Women’s Month Launch event hosted by the ICC.
During a Finance Portfolio Committee meeting yesterday, we posed a question to City Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda to confirm whether the Municipality did in fact signed the MoU. Unfortunately, he deflected the question a couple of times, but ultimately cracked under pressure and confirmed that Deputy City Manager Sipho Cele did sign the MoU between the ICC and the Municipality.
Realising his mistake, the Mayor attempted to back-pedal by stating that the Municipal’s event was later cancelled, but holds no ties to the ANCWL conference.
We were informed by the management at the ICC that Mashinini is no longer the Board Chairperson of the ICC as of the 10th of October, nevertheless, in our Memorandum, we highlighted a list of questions that we believe will lead to the dissection of this matter, and allow the ICC to take accountability, as well as those who have participated in this act of corruption by allowing the Municipality to sign the MoU.
There is no clear indication whether the CEO of the ICC, Ms Lindiwe Rakharebe who is the accounting officer was initially aware of such dealings. However, taking into consideration that this took place under her nose, she must have been informed that there were intentions to replace the Women’s Month Launch event with the ANCWL conference.
In our recommendation, we have called on the ICC to:
Failure to do so, we have made it clear that we have no intention to back down, and will table a motion at the next council meeting to remove the entire board at the ICC, as they have not only failed the ratepayers and residents of eThekwini, but have contravened the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, section 93H (1), which describes the:
“The board of directors of a municipal entity must: