Clr Izak Berg from the Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (Irasa), recently bemoaned the actions of the Ekurhuleni city manager, Khaya Ngema, who he believes has cost the metro millions of rands in legal fees.
According to Berg, a whistleblower handed him incriminating reports and documentation.
“The documentation highlighted millions of rands of fruitless and wasteful, as well as unauthorised expenditure in the Roads and Transport department of the EMM. I then approached the Public Protector and the office of the Auditor-General to assist with the investigation as so many cases are swept under the carpet in the EMM,” says Berg.
Berg adds that a R100-million unauthorised expenditure resulted from a tender for the provision of roads maintenance and rehabilitation services in September 2012.
Further pointing out that the project was halted after the Supply Chain Management Policy was interfered with, with a huge cost tag.
A recent media report says two companies were given the tender, however, only a certain amount of money through tender proceedings is allocated to projects.
This resulted in the city manager, Khaya Ngema, withdrawing the tender from the companies four months later in January 2013, but went on to give work to other contractors without following the proper process.
Berg’s documents, containing alleged damning evidence regarding tender irregularities, resulted in the officials being given letters of suspension. Another two officials were handed their letters afterwards, bringing the total of officials implicated to eight.
Berg says the documents will also be handed over to the Hawks to ensure that the culprits are brought to book, and that ratepayer’s monies are protected.
He also raises concerns about the oversight committee’s ability in doing oversight against their department.
“Political parties are very quick to raise their voices against fraud and corruption during election times, but when it comes to the crunch, they run away from their responsibilities,” says Berg.
He stresses that the metro’s handling of this fraud and corruption case will be monitored closely, as it will be a good barometer if the local government is serious in fighting fraud and corruption.
