Nine officials employed at Pioneer Park and Southern Suburbs swimming pools are expected to appear in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Joburg on 2 March.
They will appear on charges of theft after allegedly pocketing R40 000 between January and December last year.
The suspects were arrested on 28 February but later released on a warning. It is alleged that the officials pocketed the cash payments made by patrons utilising the facilities, instead of depositing the payments in the City’s accounts, as per standard procedure.
An initial investigation by the City’s Anti-Corruption Unit, headed by General Shadrack Sibiya, began in November last year but has so far yielded few results, according to Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba. “I continue to be proud of the stellar efforts made to weed out corruption from within the City. These efforts are crucial to delivering the clean governance that the people of Johannesburg deserve,” he said.
“[Recently] I announced that the City had allocated R38 million in the 2016/17 Adjustment Budget for the capacitation of the Anti-Corruption Unit within the City. The work that this team has produced without the required capacity is quite astonishing. I am excited to see what they are able to achieve when fully capacitated.”
Mashaba added that the civil service is a calling and that it is centred on seeing to the needs of the public, and residents should always come first. He said, “Those who engage in corruption have willfully abandoned this calling. For them, there can be no space in this administration.
“Working together with our other dedicated City employees, of which I am convinced there are many, we will show our residents that the City has a trustworthy, competent and professional civil service.
“I encourage residents and civil servants alike to ensure that this municipality’s funds go to those it ought to – the residents of this City.”
Mashaba also took the opportunity to laud General Sibiya. “I would also like to congratulate General Sibiya and his team for their excellent work. Corruption is public enemy number one in this City and we will not rest until corrupt officials are exposed, sent to jail and the stolen money returned.”
Read: A production exploring corruption at Joburg Theatre
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