KwaDukuza Local Municipality council is in hot water after R30 million was siphoned from its bank account.
The ActionSA in KwaDukuza Local Municipality has called for the Special Investigating Unit and Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) to swiftly investigate the theft of R30 million from the municipality account.
On Friday last week, Absa picked up suspicious transactions on the municipality’s main account and quickly alerted the municipality’s financial management, however, R30 million was already transferred out of the main account.
In a special council meeting that was solely convened to discuss the matter on Thursday, opposition parties demanded answers from the municipal manager, who is an accounting officer, however, there were no clear answers whether the breach was internal or external.
Speaking after the meeting, ActionSA councillor Halalisani Ndlovu said his party wants credible corruption fighting units such as Hawks and SIU to investigate the matter, not an internal unit.
Ndlovu said the seriousness of the issue warrants these seemingly independent bodies who have enough digital resources and high authority so that the investigation would be expedited.
“This is a very serious financial breach where someone whether internal or external can access the municipality funds so easily. This warrants the provincial and national government intervention who will quickly assign the highly credible and authoritative bodies like Hawks and SIU to move in quickly. This is cyber crime and requires sophisticated methods of investigation,” said Ndlovu.
However, the municipality said it will investigate the matter internally by appointing an independent service provider.
In a short statement issued by the municipality, spokesperson Sifiso Zulu said the report that was presented by the municipal manager indicates that Absa is in the process of investigating the matter, and the council has resolved to institute its own internal investigation into this matter.
“An independent service provider will be appointed to conduct the investigation,” said Zulu.
Although he did not disclose the amount of money that was siphoned, several insiders said the report revealed that R30 million was stolen already at the time of blocking the account. The municipality also said a case was opened with the police.
The SIU has already been mandated by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who signed a proclamation last week, paving the way for SIU to probe allegations of corruption in the municipality. In the proclamation, the president asked the SIU to start its investigation with the three tenders that were awarded in 2018 and 2019.
According to the proclamation, these tenders were allegedly irregularly awarded. During this time, the mayor was the late Ricardo Mthembu, who left the municipality to be a member of the provincial legislature. He was also appointed the ANC provincial spokesperson.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za