138 officials ‘guilty of wrongdoing at water department’

The director-general of the department of human settlements, water and sanitation, Mbulelo Tshangana, says the department has written to parliament to condone R10 billion of its R16 billion irregular expenditure.

Tshangana was speaking at a briefing on Wednesday to provide an update on alleged fraud and corruption within the department.

However, this can only be done if it shows it has taken action against those responsible for the irregular expenditure and that consequence management can be shown to have been done by the department.

Tshangana said the department had already taken action, opening 21 cases with the police.

He added 138 officials have been found guilty, of which 11 were at management level.

Tshangana said 86 were made up of general workers and middle management, while 16 officials were found not guilty.

This was an indication that forensic investigators were doing a good job, he added.

Tshangana said 13 people were dismissed, while some had been demoted, issued with a warning letter or suspended for one to three months without pay.

Water boards

He added the controversial Amatola Water in the Eastern Cape and Lepelle Northern Water in Limpopo were put under “executive caretaker arrangement”, saying the decision was taken to ensure stability in the governance of the two organisations.

Issues within the organisations centred on irregular expenditure as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure, Tshangana said.

“In fact, we should have put them under administration from Day One.”

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