Emalahleni probe into nepotism a farce, laughable – Sanco

Emalahleni municipality in Mpumalanga has investigated itself and found nothing amiss with the fact that six beneficiaries of its traffic training programme were related to top provincial and municipal executives, as well as ANC bigwigs.

The SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has rubbished the municipality’s preliminary investigation and its findings, describing the process as a “farce” and its findings “laughable”.

Last Monday, The Citizen reported how Sanco was demanding answers from Emalahleni local municipality executive mayor, Linah Malatjie, as to how spouses and children of top politicians – including a member of the executive committee (MEC) as well as two members of the mayoral committee (MMC) at Emalahleni municipality – were recruited as traffic police trainees.

The council then conducted a “preliminary investigation” into the matter following the uproar, with the findings released during a closed meeting between Sanco and the executives on Friday.

Though the probe confirmed that some of the beneficiaries were related to councillors and members of the provincial executive, it could not establish nepotism, corruption or unfair advantage.

“While a relationship was confirmed in some cases, we could not establish whether unfair advantage was induced by improper conduct of interference and undue influence…however, due to the seriousness and the gravity of the allegations, and on balance of probabilities, we will further subject the allegations to the ethics committee which will make recommendations to the council,” the report, which The Citizen has seen, stated.

The media was allegedly barred from the meeting, with Sanco saying they specifically asked whether they had media representatives among its delegation.

The report also states that a budget of R2 million was approved for the training programme, R1.7 million of which was paid to the Mpumalanga Traffic Training College and R285,000 was paid to the trainees as stipends.

The municipality has said that the beneficiaries were not in the employ of the municipality, but rather equipped with skills and preparation to be employed as traffic officers anywhere in the country.

Sanco member in the region, Bongani Hlophe, said they rejected the report with the contempt that it deserved, saying the report had no authors or signatories and was not on an official letterhead.

“We were given three copies but on laying our eyes on the so-called document, we returned the copies and we have since written to the (provincial department of corporative governance and traditional affairs) to intervene,” he said.

Municipality spokesperson Lebo Mofokeng said the mayor had promised to look into the matter and has since responded to Sanco’s allegations.

“There was no formal complaint from Sanco but the allegations were posted on social media. The mayor took it upon herself to meet Sanco to address their concerns, which were responded to in that report,” he said.

Mofokeng confirmed that the media was barred from the meeting because it was between the mayor and Sanco as a structure that raised the allegations.

Sanco has alleged that nepotism was rife in the municipality, saying next week they will release a list of family members and relatives of senior politicians, councillors and senior managers employed by the municipality.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

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