Men to appear in court after opening cases against each other
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The manager of expenditure at Nketoana local municipality, Maremela Mokoatala, claims that the chief financial officer assaulted him.
A chief financial officer (CFO) of a struggling municipality in the Free State allegedly went to a colleague’s office and head-butted him for refusing to implement a car allowance for a colleague who did not qualify for it.
Both of them have since opened cases against each other and were expected to appear in court on Monday.
The manager of expenditure at Nketoana local municipality, Maremela Mokoatala, claims that the CFO assaulted him for refusing to implement payment for a colleague’s car allowance. He then laid a case against him.
However, the CFO – Jabulani Makubu – said he was the one who was attacked and also laid a countercharge against Mokoatala.
In a police statement that SowetanLIVE has seen, Mokoatala claims that his boss, Makubu, went to his office last Thursday, pointed his finger at him, and said he “must not think [he] is s**t”.
He said Makubu further asked him why he did not do as he was told and then head-butted him twice.
Speaking to SowetanLIVE, Mokoatala said he was defending the municipal funds by refusing to implement the payment because the colleague did not qualify for a car allowance.
He also said the payment would “cripple” the municipality’s finances.
In February, the municipality failed to pay employees’ allowances on time, and according to the DA in the province, some workers did not receive their full salaries.
The party raised concerns about the municipality’s unpaid bills, unattended waste, and overgrown grass.
Mokoatala said: “He [the CFO] came to my office and started harassing me because I stopped the payment [for car allowance]. The processes on this matter were not followed. It should have been human resources informing us that we should implement the payment but that was not done.
I did not assault him. I was attacked and that is why I have reported the matter to the police
Jabulani Makubu, CFO, Nketoana local municipality
Makubu denied he assaulted Mokoatala.
“I did not assault him. I was attacked and that is why I have reported the matter to the police,” he said.
However, a photo sent to SowetanLIVE shows Mokoatala’s battered lips.
Makubu also said he lodged three financial misconduct grievances of possible fraud and corruption internally against Mokoatala – one in May and two in June.
“The matters are under investigation and as such, only the municipal manager can divulge details of such transgressions,” he said.
Free State police spokesperson W/O Mmako Mophiring confirmed that two counter cases have been opened and the men will appear before the Reìtz magistrate’s court on Monday, facing a common assault charge.
The alleged assault comes a month after Mokoatala wrote to the municipal manager advising him not to approve the colleague’s car allowance because she did not qualify and that it would “financially cripple” the municipality.
In the letter, Mokoatala says: “The employee does not originally qualify for such an allowance and as a result, this means that this expenditure item was not budgeted for, consequently incurring and increasing unauthorised expenditure.”
He said the financial implications for the allowance would be R9,981,23 per month and R119,775,10 per year, adding that the CFO did not say how the allowance would be financed and from which revenue source.
“Our municipality is under a strict budget monitoring by the national and provincial treasuries due to high unfunded budget,” read the letter.
Municipal manager Mokete Nhlapo told SowetanLIVE that the two would face a disciplinary hearing for their conduct following the altercation. He refused to be drawn into the financial misconduct Makubu spoke about. – [email protected]
