Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Mongameli Bobani says cabinet ministers should be the first to swap their fancy state cars for taxis and buses.
The mayor spoke to Enca earlier today about Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Co-operative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma urging mayors to implement cost-cutting measures.
In regulations gazetted on Friday, mayors were instructed to consider using public transport before procuring new vehicles.
"They must first leave their cars, get to the taxis and we will follow them," Bobani said.
"Let them lead us by example. I am absolutely not opposed to using public transport, but our leaders on top must lead us by example.”
Bobani said government should also look at fighting "this disease", corruption.
"National government together with all the local governments, if we can all come together to fight corruption, then we can save a lot of money."
The mayor added that the cars used by his office were sponsored by VW which did not affect taxpayer’s monies.
“Money is wasted in corruption. That money being stolen can be used to offer services.”
With regards to his previous links to corruption and Hawks raiding his office ,Bobani dismissed it as “DA propaganda.”
“My hands are clean. I’m not even a suspect”, he told the channel.
