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Mayor's husband crashes car
07/05/2007 14:08 - (SA)
Zinkie Sithole
Volksrust - The husband of a mayor in Mpumalanga has been accused of driving her official Mercedes Benz E240 into the back of another car.
Now Alex Twala, husband to executive mayor of the Pixley ka Seme municipality in Volksrust, Mapaseke Madonsela, may have to foot the bill.
"If our investigation reveals that Twala was wrong, he will be held personally liable for the expenses," said council speaker Gugulethu Ngwenya.
"The municipality cannot be expected to foot the bill if the costs arise from an act of negligence."
Twala has been a volunteer chauffeur for the mayor since November last year, when her previous driver resigned.
The car slammed into the back of another vehicle on March 19 while Madobsela was being taken home from work.
'Blown out of proportion'
Ngwenya declined to say how much the damage amounted to, but said it ran into "thousands of Rands".
Repairs to the vehicle are expected to be completed by the end of the week.
Ngwenya said Twala was authorised to drive the vehicle in terms of an old mayoral handbook. The new handbook hasn't been approved by council yet, but may exclude spouses from driving official vehicles, he said.
"We have been considering the change," said Twala.
He couldn't say when the new handbook would be approved by council.
Madonsela, who does not have a driver's license, came to her husband's defence on Friday.
"It was the fault of the driver in front of us, who failed to indicate. This whole issue is being blown out of proportion," she said.
No entourage
Madonsela said her husband was unemployed and that using him as volunteer driver saved the municipality money.
"When I'm out of town at a gala dinner my husband is there with me and we can share a bedroom, instead of the municipality booking for an entire entourage," she explained.
Ngwenya said a report about the accident would be tabled at the next council meeting on Tuesday.
- African Eye
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