City lifts lid on R7.5m fraud and corruption at Joburg Market

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba on Monday said the city’s anticorruption unit had uncovered theft‚ fraud and corruption amounting to more than R7.5 million at Joburg Market.

The unit, headed by General Shadrack Sibiya, detailed in a report how three officials at the market, alongside three suppliers, allegedly defrauded the city by misrepresenting the cost of various goods received via the market’s procurement processes.

“Officials also fraudulently misrepresented the completeness of services rendered by some suppliers, causing substantial financial loss to the market. One such case of misrepresentation cost residents R1 863 876.63. In another instance, the market overpaid R5 067 523.80 to a supplier with whom employees of the market had business interests,” Mashaba said in a statement.

The mayor said the arrests of all those implicated were imminent and the city had opened a case of fraud, theft and corruption against all implicated officials and suppliers with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, better known as the Hawks.

“Officials named in the report will also face the City’s internal disciplinary proceedings. The three implicated officials have been suspended pending the outcome of all investigations.

“To those who would pursue a career of crime and corruption within the City, I say the days of past administrations turning a blind eye to your blatant looting are over. We will expose you and you will face the full might of the law,” he said.

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