Revealed: Ekurhuleni conducts 0 life-style audits – DA will change this

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered by Khathu Rasilingwane, DA Ekurhuleni Mayoral Candidate on the kick-off of the You Can Count On Khathu Tour in Ekurhuleni, the place we revealed that Ekurhuleni has performed 0 life-style audits.

Pictures here, here, here and here; English soundbite

Programme director, provincial management, my fellow DA leaders, councillor candidates, activists, members of the media and most significantly, the residents of Ekurhuleni.

There is a illness in Ekurhuleni, and it has been allowed to unfold for much too lengthy.

That illness is corruption.

For years, we’ve watched scandal after scandal unfold on this City.

We have watched allegations pile up, investigations drag on and hundreds of thousands of rands disappear whereas residents are advised there’s not sufficient cash to repair roads, keep infrastructure or ship the fundamental providers they pay for.

We have reached the purpose the place one other plaster just isn’t going to repair the issue.

Ekurhuleni wants surgical procedure, and we’d like a authorities with the braveness to make the incision and lower the corruption out.

Over the previous few months, we’ve seen simply how deep the issue runs. We have seen the R1,8 billion chemical rest room tender. We have seen severe allegations surrounding the City’s billing system.

And we’ve seen irregular expenditure, questionable procurement and allegations of felony syndicates and political interference throughout the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department.

These are usually not remoted incidents.

Taken collectively, they paint an image of a municipality wherein the techniques which can be supposed to guard public cash have merely not been adequate.

And nowhere is that extra apparent than within the case of suspended EMPD Deputy Chief Julius Mkhwanazi.

Mr Mkhwanazi faces a number of felony issues and severe allegations. He is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and it’s for the courts to find out whether or not he’s responsible of any crime.

But there’s one other query the City itself should reply.

How did somebody going through allegations of this seriousness stay in such a senior place for thus lengthy, and what did the City do to guarantee that the whole lot was above board?

Mr Mkhwanazi is now suspended, however the individuals of Ekurhuleni have been made to pay over R1,2 million in wage whereas he’s sat at residence, or in court docket, or in a holding cell since November final 12 months.

That is R1,2 million of public cash being paid to an official who just isn’t at work.

Cases like this could set alarm bells ringing throughout the municipality.

They ought to set off scrutiny. They ought to set off questions. And they need to make the City use each instrument at its disposal to uncover potential corruption.

And a kind of instruments is life-style audits.

The precept behind a way of life audit is easy. When anyone entrusted with public cash seems to be dwelling far past what their professional earnings can moderately assist, authorities ought to ask questions.

Where did the cash come from? Can the distinction between what anyone earns and the approach to life they seem like dwelling be defined?

A life-style audit doesn’t presume that anyone is responsible. It doesn’t change a felony investigation, and it doesn’t change the courts.

What it does is establish warning indicators and discrepancies that want a better look.

In a City rocked by allegation after allegation of corruption, you’d count on life-style audits to be a part of the battle in opposition to it.

But here’s what the individuals of Ekurhuleni must know right now.

The City of Ekurhuleni has not performed a single life-style audit.

Not one.

After all of the scandals, all of the allegations and all of the questions on what has occurred to public cash on this City, not one life-style audit has been performed.

That will change underneath a DA authorities.

Within our first six months in workplace, we’ll conduct a whole lot of life-style audits, starting with senior officers and people occupying positions the place the danger of corruption is best.

And life-style audits is not going to stand alone.

Last week, outdoors the Ekurhuleni Council Chambers, I introduced that throughout the first 100 days of a DA authorities we’ll set up a Whistleblower Protection Unit.

People who expose corruption mustn’t need to concern for his or her lives or livelihoods.

They should know that after they come ahead, they are going to be protected and what they inform us will likely be acted upon.

We will defend whistleblowers. We will observe the cash. We will examine warning indicators as an alternative of ignoring them.

And the place we discover proof of felony exercise, we’ll hand it over to the police for investigation.

Because corruption just isn’t one thing that occurs someplace behind the closed doorways of the Council Chambers.

Its penalties are seen in communities throughout Ekurhuleni each single day.

You see it within the pothole that has not been repaired. You see it within the streetlight that has been damaged for months. You see it within the park that has change into unusable, the swimming pool that continues to be closed, and the infrastructure that’s allowed to collapse.

Every rand that’s stolen, wasted or abused is a rand that can’t be spent serving the individuals of this City.

And from subsequent week, I’m going to take that message straight into communities throughout Ekurhuleni.

Today, we formally launch the You Can Count on Khathu tour.

Over the approaching weeks, I’ll journey throughout this City and marketing campaign alongside the DA candidates who’re standing right here right now.

We will go into communities, knock on doorways, communicate to residents and see what individuals expertise day-after-day.

But this tour just isn’t about travelling round Ekurhuleni pointing at the whole lot that’s damaged.

It is about telling individuals what we’re going to do about it.

That is why I’ve made 5 pledges to the individuals of Ekurhuleni.

I’ve pledged to revive steady funds, as a result of a City that can’t handle its cash can not ship providers.

I’ve pledged to develop the economic system and create jobs by constructing a municipality that works with companies and entrepreneurs as an alternative of standing of their manner.

I’ve pledged to construct a corruption-free City, the place public cash is protected and those that abuse it are held accountable.

I’ve pledged to get our roads and infrastructure working, as a result of individuals mustn’t need to beg their municipality to carry out the fundamental features they already pay for.

And I’ve pledged to construct safer communities, with functioning streetlights, safer public areas and municipal legislation enforcement that serves the individuals.

Those 5 pledges are on the coronary heart of our marketing campaign to Get Ekurhuleni Working for All.

But no mayor can try this alone.

That is why right now is concerning the DA ward and proportional illustration candidates taking this marketing campaign into communities throughout Ekurhuleni.

Being a councillor just isn’t a few title or a seat within the Council Chamber. It is about being there when your group wants you.

When anyone telephones a few leaking pipe, reply the telephone. When residents present you a pothole, go and see it, and use the required mechanisms to make sure it’s attended to.

When a park is unusable or a municipal facility has been closed, discover out why. And when individuals ask what occurred to their cash, demand the solutions.

A DA councillor doesn’t work for the Mayor or for a political elite.

A DA councillor works for the individuals who elected them.

So, to each candidate right here right now: Be current in your communities. Listen to individuals.

Fight for them. Communicate with them. And always remember who despatched you to the Council Chamber within the first place.

That is the staff we’re launching right now. A staff you may depend on.

On 4 November, this City has a alternative.

We can settle for one other 5 years of corruption, failing providers and excuses, or we will select a authorities that respects public cash, will get the fundamentals proper and places residents first.

We can select a City the place companies can develop and folks can discover alternatives for work.

A City the place roads are maintained, streetlights work and communities are safer. Where corruption is confronted as an alternative of tolerated, and authorities remembers who it really works for.

That is the Ekurhuleni we’re combating for, and right now we launch the staff that can take that battle into each ward and each group throughout this City.

Our candidates are prepared. Our activists are prepared. I’m prepared.

And collectively, we’re able to Get Ekurhuleni Working for All.

You can depend on this staff.

And you may depend on the DA.

Thank you.