The Western Cape municipality of Oudtshoorn is fighting for its financial survival after years of mismanagement. And the Hawks are probing allegations of fraud and corruption.“The municipality is being sued left, right and centre for outstanding debts,” says acting town manager Allen Paulse. “We are fighting a day-to-day battle to stay afloat.”The Klein Karoo town of 100,000 inhabitants has made the news for all the wrong reasons.“Oudtshoorn is totally bankrupt,” says local businessman Neil Els, president of its tourism authority. “The town owes R300m. Where does it get that type of money from?”Things are so bad the Oudtshoorn branch of AfriForum has stepped in to fund the R21,000 cost of repairing an electric substation.“It was causing major power failures,” says AfriForum’s local chairman, Heinrich Crocker.But the town’s administrator, Kam Chetty, believes there is too much pessimism about attempts to rescue Oudtshoorn. Chetty was appointed as administrator in August 2015 by the n...
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