Media reports indicated that the financially distressed City of Matlosana Local Municipality in North West made two payments of R826,563.90 each to a company called Gold Heart Trading, owned by businessman Khumoeng Kemiso.
The municipal manager, Lesego Seametso, reportedly approved both transactions. Kemiso, who is also known as The Pearl Klerksdorp owner, is said to have close ties with Seametso.
Seametso is accused of approving more than R1.6 million in duplicate payments for Kemiso’s company for identical services. For the initial payment, she allegedly bypassed a crucial provincial oversight step required for municipalities under a financial recovery plan.
City Press reports the irregular expenditure was never recovered, nor disclosed in the municipality’s financial statements. Officials allegedly manipulated documentation to process the second payment, suggesting a deliberate and coordinated effort rather than a clerical error.
The company had submitted invoice 0221, dated 26 January 2024, for copy costs covering November 2023 to January 2024 for multifunctional copiers.
The report further alleged the payment request went through all the required departmental authorisations, where Seametso approved the payment on 29 April 2024. At this point, the paperwork should have gone to the provincial executive representative (PER) for concurrence, however, instead, Seametso allegedly sent the documents directly to the expenditure section, skipping the oversight step.
The report indicates that the clerk, Sibusiso Sekoati, then captured and authorised the transaction using invoice 0221, the other senior clerk Raymond Serame verified it and expenditure manager Jan Letlhoo approved it.
A system-generated document, known as the HI730, was produced and signed as part of the payment. The payment of R826 563.90 was made that same day, 29 April 2024, and recorded under electronic filling number 43219.
City Press reported days later though, the same documents were finally submitted to PER, but, crucially, this time the HI730 document was excluded. On 3 May 2024, the provincial representatives then provided concurrence, but this was after the first payment was made.
At the time of publishing this report, City Report could not get a response from Seametso and Kemiso.
