The Democratic Alliance (DA) has publicly expressed our serious dissatisfaction with the appointment of Mr Winston Mohayi as one of the five administrators deployed to the Sol Plaatje Municipality following its placement under a Section 139(1)(b) intervention by COGHSTA MEC, Bentley Vass, on Wednesday.
Mohayi, the former manager of the municipality’s Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI), is one of seven suspects arrested in May 2025 in connection with the ongoing corruption scandal linked to the Kimberley mental hospital project. He faces charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering, and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
Following his implication in the matter, Mohayi requested special leave and was subsequently removed as manager of the BFI project amid serious concerns regarding his integrity and suitability to oversee public funds. Yet, despite these unresolved allegations, MEC Vass now appears to regard him as fit to oversee the affairs of Sol Plaatje Municipality through this intervention process.
This raises serious concerns about the credibility, judgment, and integrity of the individuals appointed by Vass to administer the municipality.
These concerns are compounded by MEC Vass’s deeply troubling secondment of convicted fraudster Busisiwe Mgaguli as acting Sol Plaatje municipal manager last year. Council is still awaiting accountability regarding questionable payments made by Mgaguli, totalling R600 000 in public funds.
It is impossible to take this Section 139 intervention seriously when all indications suggest that it is not driven by a genuine commitment to improving governance and restoring service delivery, but rather by a determination to gain control over the purse strings of the R2.5 billion BFI project.
The DA is continuing to explore every available avenue to challenge this intervention. We will fight to protect public resources from further abuse, safeguard the integrity of Sol Plaatje Municipality, and ensure that all due processes are strictly adhered to in terms of the MFMA and applicable legislation governing public finances.
BFI funds, and all municipal resources belonging to Sol Plaatje Municipality, belong to the people of Kimberley, not the ANC, and we will not allow service delivery to be short-changed on our watch.