THE mayor of eThekwini, Zandile Gumede, councillor Mondli Mthembu and businessman, Craig Ponnan were granted R50 000 bail each following their brief appearance at the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Hawks said the trio handed themselves over to the Hawks’ National Clean Audit Task Team (NCATT) early on Tuesday morning and they were subsequently charged with fraud, corruption, contravention of the POCA Act as well as contravening of the Municipal Management Act of 2003.
“Two weeks ago the NCATT arrested nine suspects on allegations of fraud and corruption in relation to a 2016 R208 million Durban Solid Waste tender where service providers were allegedly paid huge amounts of monies even though they did not render any service. The nine suspects, eThekwini Municipality’s deputy head of strategy and new development, Robert Abbu (62), supply chain manager, Sandile Ngcobo (41), Hlenga Sibisi (43), Mzwandile Dludla (24), Sinthamone Ponnan (55), Sithulele Mkhize (38), Bongani Dlomo (53), and Prabagaram Pariah (61) were released on R50 000 bail as well by the same court,” spokesman for the Hawks, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.
He added that Gumede, Mthembu and Ponnan will join the nine suspects when they appear again on 8 August 2019. Investigations are still ongoing.
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