SowetanLive reports that a Limpopo municipality speaker has been accused of making false travel claims and abusing a petrol card while using an official vehicle.

Phukuwe Ntsoane, the speaker of Lepelle-Nkumpi local municipality in Lebowakgomo, is alleged to have submitted travel claims for trips he never took and also using a petrol card issued for his official vehicle while the car was in for repairs. According to a report compiled for the office of the acting municipal manager Tebogo Gafane, Ntsoane’s alleged wrongdoing cost the municipality more than R70,000 between July and October last year. The report, which relies on information generated from Tracker, Wesbank transactions and travel claims, found that Ntsoane had been submitting travel claims amounting to R74,000 even though he was using the official vehicle between the same period. Ntsoane denied the allegations, saying it was a “smear campaign” as he had publicly announced a council resolution to fire Gafane after he allegedly misled council on the suspension of a technical director. Ntsoane and Mayor Merriam Molala disagreed in public on the dismissal of Gafane.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Peter Ramothwala at SowetanLive

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page