Allegations of fraud, corruption, theft and service delivery issues rank high among the cases being investigated by the eThekwini Municipality against employees accused of misusing municipal infrastructure and resources for the 2024/2025 financial year.

Berea Mail reports the city confirmed that service delivery cases registered in the first and second quarters of the year amounted to 281, while 181 allegations of fraud and corruption were filed, and 126 infrastructure cases were being investigated by the municipality’s investigative unit. Municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said this was part of the city’s efforts to root out fraud, corruption and theft of municipal resources.

This follows a string of incidents, the latest being two municipal employees arrested for diesel theft last week in Verulam, north of Durban.

She said the two municipal employees were allegedly caught red-handed by investigators who were in the area following up on reports of several truck drivers spotted offloading diesel.

“A municipal water truck was caught offloading diesel at a private residence, while another water truck was parked next to the gate of the same residence in eKukhanyeni, near Verulam. Both trucks were carrying water intended for delivery to communities,” said Sisilana.

“The two municipal employees were arrested and a case of theft was opened at the Inanda Police Station. The suspects will appear in court.”

The arrest was welcomed by the head of the City Integrity and Investigations Unit, Jimmy Ngcobo, who commended the team of investigators for a job well done. He said suspects were caught with 12×25 litres of offloaded diesel, which ‘amounts to 300 litres of stolen municipal diesel’.

“Further investigations will be conducted in this area as it is alleged that diesel is frequently offloaded there. We will not allow employees to steal municipal resources. We urge the community to report fraud and corruption cases to be investigated, like in this instance,” said Ngcobo.

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