Raid on Dawid Kruiper Municipality offices: The 24 contracts under scrutiny

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has seized documents involving 24 contracts issued by the Dawid Kruiper Local Municipality in the Northern Cape as part of its investigation into alleged corruption, fraud or maladministration.

SIU officials, assisted by the South African Police Service and Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (Hawks), raided the municipality’s offices on Friday.

It follows a warrant granted by the Upington Magistrate Court on Thursday.

ALSO READ: Waterberg’s ex-mayor investigated for destabilising Thabazimbi municipality

“The SIU and Hawks collected all payment documentation, which included confirmation of goods/services received, requisition forms, Purchase Orders, Remittance Advice, Payment Vouchers, Reconciliation Reports, Monthly Statements from Service Providers, and Deviation forms captured from 1 January 2010 to September 2024, as stipulated in Proclamation 185 of 2024.

“Furthermore, the SIU has collected electronic items such as laptops, computers, mobile devices, optical media (DVD/CD), audio recorders, computer data storage mediums, external hard drives, memory sticks, and cards,” the unit said of the raid.

SIU raid necessary

It defended its decision, saying it was necessary to seize the documents urgently.

“The SIU has a reason to believe that a normal route of requesting information and documents would not have yielded positive results, hence it was deemed necessary to approach the Upington Magistrate Court for a search warrant to seize documents and computers to assist with the ongoing investigation.”

ALSO READ: SIU investigations saved South Africa R8 billion last year

The contracts under scrutiny

The contracts under scrutiny reach across several departments in the municipality, affecting everything from security, sports fields, water and financials to fencing, trucks, and sound systems.

Among the contracts are the:

• Appointment of external security services.
• Acquisition of security services from private security companies from December 2019 to December 2020.
• Appointment of advocates and law firms between 2010 and 2020.
• Appointment of a service provider to supply and construct clear-view fencing between 2018 and 2019.
• Hire a tractor-loader-backhoe (yellow plant) and a tipper truck for 30 days to develop dump sites in Askham, Welkom, Kleinen Groot Mier, and Rietfontein.
• Procurement of loggers for measuring flows and pressures in pipelines and for the ACIP project from a firm of consulting engineers in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
• Appointment of a service provider on 10 July 2013 to gather data for financial statements.
• On 1 December 2017, service providers were appointed to hire sound and a stage for the Kersliggies event.
• Construction of internal roads in Rosedale.
• Upgrading of internal streets in Loubos.
• Construction of a new Louisvale Road Sewerage Pump Station.
• Construction of internal streets in Klein Mier
• Paving of streets on Louisvale Road.
• Electrification of 1 000 houses on Paballelo and Dakota Road
• Repair and re-surface of CBD roads.
• Construction of sports fields.
• Construction of Leseding access road.
• Planning, design and project management of various parks’ grounds in the municipal area.
• Designing of civil services for Rosedale, Paballelo, Louisvale Road and Dakota Road.
• Compilation of an immovable asset register.
• Resealing a road surface.
• Construction of a bridge between Paballelo and Rosedale.
• Appointment of consultants and contractors, and the
• Construction of four community sports facilities at Dakota Road, Paballelo, Rainbow and Rosedale

President Cyril Ramaphosa last month signed off on investigations into the contracts, which stretch from January 2010 to September 2024.

ALSO READ: President Cyril Ramaphosa authorises investigation of Limpopo’s Mapungubwe Arts Festival

They have raised red flags over governance failures, unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, or wasteful expenditure, and possible corruption in the municipality for over a decade.

“We are concerned about the extent of corruption that may have taken place in the municipality over a prolonged period of time, at the ultimate cost of service delivery,” the DA’s Rudolph Saal said.

NOW READ: SIU probes Transnet, human settlements and Umzumbe tenders