Free State Mayor’s Mystery 7,000 KM Journey

Nketoana mayor Mamiki Mokoena appears to have spent R100,000 in a single month on car hire and fuel.

• Invoices and fuel cards seen by GroundUp suggest that the mayor of Nketoana in the Free State travelled nearly 7,000 km in a month.
• She appears to have spent nearly R100,000.
• The municipality has not answered GroundUp’s questions.
• According to the Auditor-General, the municipality suffered a net loss of R170-million for the period ended 30 June 2023, and its liabilities exceeded its assets by R740-million.

The mayor of Nketoana in the Free State appears to have spent about R100,000 on a rented car in a single month.

According to an invoice seen by GroundUp, the mayor, Mamiki Mokoena, travelled 6,943 kilometres between 18 May and 18 June this year, in a rented Avis Toyota Fortuner. The invoice from Avis suggests that she was billed R64,893 for rent on the car for the month. Records suggest that about R34,000 was spent on the mayor’s fuel card over the period.

This follows two accidents in which the mayor’s cars, owned by the municipality, were written off.

In August 2021, the mayor’s BMW 4 series was involved in an accident. The mayor then appears to have rented a car until August 2023, when a new car was bought, a Haval H9. Over that time, according to a source in the municipality, R850,000 was spent on car hire.

The new car was involved in an accident in November 2023, and since then the mayor has been renting a car again, first a Ford Everest and then a Fortuner.

Fuel transactions on the records GroundUp has seen do not make sense. For instance on 18 May 2024 the car was filled with 67.1 litres of fuel. The odometer reading was 19,800. Two days later, on 20 May, the car was filled again with 53.9 litres of fuel, but the odometer reading was 19,900, suggesting the car had only been driven 100km.

Odometer readings are also nonsensical. The records show that on 21 July, the odometer reading was 20,804km and 64.45l of fuel was put in the tank in Pretoria at a cost of R1,382.65. The next time fuel was purchased was three days later, on 24 July. But on this date, when 76.6l of fuel was bought for R1,665.05 in Heilbron, the odometer reading was 20,764km, which was 40 km less than previously.

Additionally, the mayor appears to have spent almost the entire month of July in Gauteng. Between 30 June and 7 August, fuel was purchased either in Pretoria or Westdene, with the exception of 24 July, when a fuel purchase was made in Heilbron in the Free State, although Heilbron is outside Nketoana Local Municipality.

Asked to comment, Phillip Nkomo, the mayor’s advisor, said the municipality was working on buying her a new car.

“We are going to use the money paid by insurance to buy a new car. We are waiting for the supply chain process and that could take eight weeks,” he said.

Asked to explain the mayor’s expenses, Nkomo asked who supplied the information to GroundUp.

“I wonder if this is just a personal vendetta to plot against the mayor or to prove how corrupt she is.”

“It is not good to always write bad things about the mayor. You should remember she is a mother to someone and ruining her reputation affects the kids. I will check with the mayor and come back to you on the issues of the invoice and respond after,” he said.

On Thursday, 21 August, Nkomo called GroundUp, with municipal manager Mokete Nhlapo also on the line. Nhlapo promised to send the information before the end of the day but did not do so. GroundUp called both of them back on Friday 22 August but they did not answer their phones. A message was left on Nkomo’s WhatsApp but he ignored it.

Councillor Diphapang Mofokeng (DA), said the DA had asked for an accident report and details of the costs of the rented vehicle, but the municipality had failed to produce the information.

He said the DA had also wanted confirmation that the car had been used on municipal business. He said the logbook had not been properly kept.

The Auditor-General report on Nketoana Local Municipality for the 2022/23 financial year records the municipality stated irregular expenditure was R480-million, and had stated R427-million in irregular expenditure in the 2021/2022 financial year.

The report notes that due to “the status of the accounting records”, there was insufficient audit evidence to confirm the stated amount, as the municipality did not include the required information on irregular expenditure (as required by the Municipal Finance Management Act). The report notes R15.8-million in expenditure was incurred in contravention of the supply chain management requirements, thus the municipality has understated their irregular expenditure by this amount. In the 2021/22 financial year, R56-million was spent in contravention of the supply chain management requirements.

There was almost R1-billion (R980-million) in unauthorised expenditure in the 2022/23 financial year, up from R811-million in unauthorised expenditure in the previous financial year. Again, the report notes there was insufficient audit evidence to confirm the amount stated.

The municipality suffered a net loss of R170-million for the period ended 30 June 2023, and its liabilities exceeded its assets by R740-million.

There was also R47.6-million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the 2022/23 financial year, which was due to interest and penalties on overdue accounts.

Read More at GroundUp