While State capture is rated by many as the biggest scandal in post-apartheid South Africa, for President Cyril Ramaphosa the real capture is at local government level. Ramaphosa said this on Thursday when he addressed the more than 100 mayors who converged at East London's International Convention Centre for a two-day Council of Mayors conference, which was organised by the SA Local Government Association. During his keynote address, Ramaphosa brought corruption, maladministration and mismanagement of funds into sharp focus, urging mayors to stand up against criminals who are capturing municipalities. He also urged mayors to learn from the findings of the Auditor-General. "The Auditor-General is not writing novel fictions. They follow what really happens, therefore you should take them seriously," Ramaphosa said. He said corruption undermined the work at local government level, which was the most important sphere of government. "I have heard about this, where everything is outsourced to serve outside interests, resulting in the municipality being captured," said Ramaphosa. "You have been talking about State capture and, in fact, we are finding that the real capture is happening at local government level, where certain interests just capture the entire municipality and they purportedly then provide every service." Ramaphosa said that, due to this, it was often found that workers, who were originally employed to execute the functions offered by service providers, continued being paid every month for work being done by outsiders.
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