SDM allegedly buys 24 laptops for R1million

SEKHUKHUNE

A purchase of 24 laptops at a cost of almost R1million has angered opposition parties at the Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM).

Amid the recent arrests of current and former officials of SDM by the Hawks on corruption charges some are still allegedly continuing with corrupt activities. The opposition parties at the municipality, has urged the executive mayor Maleke Mokganyetji to act on the corruption.

“Can Mokganyetji and the Municipal Manager (Meshack Kgwale) bring us into confidence how the municipality’s IT department was authorised to purchase 24 laptops at approximately R34k each?, said Bolsheviks Party leader Seun Mogotji.

He said it had come to light that the Dell Intel Inspiron brand’s top-tier laptop costs between R14 000- R16 000 each, how did these ones cost so much and why didn’t anyone intercept to stop the purchase as it makes no business sense at all,” questioned Mogotji.

The party said it needed answers on the matter.

“Will this madness ever stop? We need answers,someone must explain why this ridiculous purchase was made by a struggling municipality which is always in the news for wrong reasons of mismanagement of public finances,” he added.

According to Mogotji,SDM officials are behaving as if the municipal funds are a ‘sparbox’. “It seems anytime an official is in a financial fix, the first stop is the municipality’s funds.

“How can laptops costs R34 000 each.
It seems the grey matter of municipality officials is swimming in corruption so much they cannot see anything wrong with ripping the municipality off,” added Mogotji.
Queries were forwarded to the SDM spokesman Kgetjepe Maredi, he was yet to respond at the time of going to print.