His Worship Cllr Albert Mncwango, the Nongoma Municipal Mayor has welcomed the announcement made by the KZN MEC of Agriculture, Hon Themba Mthembu to investigate the alleged corruption in the distribution of drought relief funds.
“We welcome this initiative by MEC Mthembu because the Nongoma area is one of the hardest hit by severe drought where people lost their livestock and most of the dams are dry. At that time the people of Nongoma were promised that dams will be built and that they will be compensated for the loss of livestock, but none of this has materialised even though huge amounts of money was set aside by the provincial government for drought relief,” said His Worship Mayor, Cllr Albert Mncwango.
“Cattle feeding came late and it was not enough to help all those who were affected by the drought. The citizens were promised that fields would be fenced but even this has not happened so far. This makes us believes that we were being misled into believing that people will be assisted by the provincial government. We urge this investigation must uncover what has happened to the funds allocated for drought relief. It is unacceptable that public funds that are allocated for a specific purpose do not reach the people they are intended for,” continued Cllr Mncwango.
“We are aware that in the 2016/2017 Provincial Budget an amount of R200million was allocated towards drought relief. This was in addition to the R114million that was reprioritised during the 2015/16 Adjustments by the Department of Agriculture. The tax payer needs to know what has happened to this money. We want to see the law takes its course in this matter. Anyone who is found to have acted in a corrupt and unethical manner must be punished. Public funds are the horses they want to ride to the land of their dreams but we cannot allow this to happen when our people are suffering. If the MEC wants to show that he is serious about clamping down on corruption, officials who are implicated must be named and shamed. He must also commit himself to taking action against those politicians at the very top if any are found to be involved in any unlawful activity. The citizens of Nongoma must get what is due to them,” concluded Cllr Mncwango.
Issued by:
His Worship the Mayor
Cllr Albert Mncwango
083 448 4896
