Durban - A forensic report compiled by a team of investigative lawyers on behalf of uPhongolo Local Municipality has recommended that criminal charges be laid against a former mayor, councillors and officials for allegedly blowing R15 million in two months.
The investigation by Zuma & Partners Inc was commissioned shortly after a new IFP administration took over the municipality along the South Africa-eSwatini border in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
NEWS: A confidential forensic report has revealed how the ANC leadership of UPhongolo local municipality blew R15 million in frivolous local economic development projects which empowered only politically connected people.
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) November 10, 2022
The probe was sparked by the fact that, two months before the local government elections, which were held in November last year, the then ANC mayor, Sbu Mhlongo, who is also the governing party’s Mzala Nxumalo (Zululand) regional chairperson, allegedly ordered that the budget for the local economic development desk be dramatically increased.
The budget was increased from R1.5 million to a whopping R15 million to cater for funding 28 projects that included poultry farming, car wash schemes, and others.
According to the report, there was an apparent splitting of the bids to avoid following competitive bidding processes, and the idea for these projects came from Mhlongo’s office.
The report also noted that former officials who were questioned during the probe made it clear that in certain instances the prescribed supply chain management policies were flouted.
The report noted that, once the buying of materials for the projects had been completed and they had to be delivered to the applicants, councillors came to collect them. However, a certain ward did not have a councillor at the time, and in that case an unknown certain member of the community collected on behalf of that ward.
During an investigation to determine whether some of these goods were delivered, it was found that some never reached the intended recipients, and in one case a councillor said he could not remember who received 300 chickens bought as part of the empowerment project.
“About 300 chickens were given to persons he can no longer remember,” the report noted.
In its findings, the investigators said there was evidence Mhlongo had overstepped the mark in initiating this project.
"It is our prima facie view that the former mayor might have overstepped his powers of political oversight and monitoring when he gave the instructions to Mr Mntungwa and subsequently received some of the items (allegedly on behalf of the beneficiaries) procured by administration.
“It is our view that the role played by the former mayor in the (local economic development) projects, starting from flouting the provisions of the (Municipal Finance Management Act), which has its own sanctions, to giving instructions to the officials on the implementation of the projects in direct contravention of the policies of the municipality as well as the relevant legislation, warrants an investigation as set out below for interfering in the administration of the municipality.”
They then recommended that the speaker appoint a panel to ensure that those who transgressed the law were punished accordingly.
“It is for this reason that we recommend that the speaker must exercise his powers in terms of the code of conduct and appoint a special committee of council to investigate and recommend appropriate steps, including recommending to council why action should not be taken to recover the losses incurred by the municipality as a result of this unauthorised expenditure.
“We recommend that an audit must be conducted to trace the trail of items delivered to the beneficiaries. The evidence is that some of the items that were meant for the beneficiaries did not reach the intended beneficiaries.
"Special committees must advise council, in the event of adverse findings against the affected councillors, to recover losses from the responsible councillors.
“It is also recommended that all accounting officers of the time when this project was undertaken be reported to the police.
“The accounting officer at the time, as well as any other official involved in the approval of these amounts, should also be reported to the South African Police Service for criminal investigations.”
Mhlongo said this investigation was a fight-back campaign by the IFP administration to take pressure off the scandal-ridden IFP mayor Mavis Velephi Sikhosana and her officials.
"The procured goods were collected from the municipality by the people who had applied and were approved. I insisted that no councillor should collect on behalf of a ward," Mhlongo told IOL when he was asked about the report.
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