Residents will notice the many boards in Frankfort advertising the auction of municipal assets on November 9th. The auction items that are disposed of can be viewed on the auctioneer's website.
It is shocking to see that Mafube Local Municipality (MPM) now wants to sell assets that are clearly still repairable and could be used to provide services. A glaring example of this is the 2 Foton tractors which are still fairly new (purchased about 6 years ago) and are now being disposed of, probably because MPM no longer has the capacity to carry out maintenance and repair work. Municipal officials also naturally prefer that something new should be purchased rather than repaired, because there is a better opportunity to make something out of a corrupt tender procedure.
The question surrounding what happened to the Mayor's black Mercedes Benz, with the MAF 01 FS number plate, is at least now more clear because it also appears on the auctioneer's website as one of the assets to be sold at the public auction. Jabulani Sigasa insisted at the time of his appointment around 2014, that a new official car be bought for him because the municipality's Lexus was, in his eyes, not good enough. The black Mercedes was then purchased at an estimated cost of R800 000. MAF01FS was seen quite often (Mayor Sigasa lived in Cornelia) on the dusty roads of our towns until it suddenly disappeared sometime in 2019. The sheriff did seize the car because MPM could not pay their large debt to the municipal workers' pension fund and it was assumed that the mayor's official car was sold at an auction together with his official residence in Frankfort. It is amazing that this luxury car has been in storage for the last 4 years and has not been sold by the bankrupt MPM - while workers could not be paid and services could not be provided to the community. The preoccupation with the status of political officials has not changed since then, as illustrated by the recent rental of luxury vehicles for the mayor and speaker.
Mafube Business Forum (MBF) questions whether all the legal provisions have been complied with by MPM and whether value will be gained from the sale of community assets at a public auction.
MBF invites residents, business owners and taxpayers to visit our offices at 18A Church Street, Frankfort on Mondays to Thursdays from 08h30 to 16h00 and Fridays 08h30 to 12h00. Call or send a WhatsApp message to Marina on 079 145 4295. Visit our website www.mafubebf.org and follow us on Facebook.
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