S. African mayor rejects $100,000 car, directs money to go into water provision

The mayor in South Africa’s district municipality of Vhembe, Florence Radzilani, has turned down an offer by the municipality to buy her a car worth over $100,000 (the equivalent of 1.5 million rands)

Radzilani who belongs to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) said instead that the money be used to buy more crane trucks to deal with water shortages in the district, the News24 portal reports.

“Since we got into office on 26 August we have received 310 cases of water issues, and out of that 310 we managed to resolve 133. Only 53 villages were getting water, but now 133 villages get water. We hope that soon all the villages will receive water,” she said.

She was addressing journalists on Tuesday at a media briefing in the Vhembe mayoral boardroom on her first 100 days in the job. She disclosed that her office had bought five trucks and were in the process of buying another two.

“I know it’s very risky because the vehicle I’m using was bought by the previous mayor and has reached the mileage limit of 170 000km. We are not allowed to use a car that has exceeded that, but I’m willing to take that risk so that all the villages might receive water,” said Radzilani.

She also spoke about the need to refurbish boreholes and to build more water tanks to get water to every household in Vhembe. Vhembe is one of the 5 districts of Limpopo province of South Africa. It is the northernmost district of the country.

2day we salute Florence Radzilani, Mayor of Vhembe, who declined R1,5m car opting 2 buy crane trucks 2 deal with water shortages in district pic.twitter.com/sTQu0bzEqZ

— South African Heroes (@SA_Heroes) December 14, 2016