Fresh interest by the Democratic Alliance in a report on the affairs of the Moqhaka municipality was ”unfortunate”, Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff said on Tuesday.
She denied being reluctant to release the report, and has accused the DA of creating an ”unfortunate perception”.
”At the time of the decision [to investigate] there was nothing peculiar regarding this report as Moqhaka was not the only municipality whose affairs were considered,” Marshoff said in a statement.
DA leader Tony Leon, during a visit to Kroonstad on Monday, called on the premier to release the Majavu commission of inquiry’s findings on alleged corruption and maladministration in Moqhaka.
Leon joined DA councillors in handing over a petition with about 6 000 signatures demanding that Marshoff release the report. The petition was handed to Free State DA leader Andries Botha to deliver to Marshoff.
Local government MEC Joel Mafereka in 2004 appointed Zola Majavu to head the independent forensic audit into possible irregularities at the municipality.
The DA said the report was due to be completed in January 2005 and was apparently handed over to Mafereka and Marshoff, but was never released.
Marshoff said the audit had to examine the administration of the municipality, the implementation of council resolutions and compliance with statutory process.
The relationship between councillors and officials and the awarding of infrastructure contracts were also part of the investigation.
Marshoff said: ”The executive council was satisfied that all the important processes had been concluded and that the report can now be released, in the space of the next two weeks.”
The premier and the MEC for local government would hold a media briefing to present the report.
Marshoff urged political parties to refrain from making misleading and uninformed assumptions in regard to the report.
The DA’s Andries Botha described the premier’s latest statement as misleading.
”The premier has in fact been sitting on this report for a whole year during which the DA wrote numerous letters starting March 2005, which culminated in a request for release of the document via the Promotion of Access to Information Act during October 2005,” he said. – Sapa