‘Comperio report doctored in cover-up to protect top Emfuleni official Nkoane’

By Craig Kotze
The name of ELM’s top official – acting Municipal Manager Oupa Dithaba Nkoane – was deliberately removed from the explosive Comperio report tabled before Council last week in a politically-manipulated cover-up, according to outraged councillors from almost all political parties.
Organised business has now demanded that the Comperio report into almost R900 million in corrupt and unauthorised ELM contracts be released and made public immediately to prevent further political manipulation and cover-up of especially Nkoane’s role.
A major political storm is now brewing in Emfuleni over the matter but the Comperio report was deferred to be discussed again by ELM Council this week.
Nkoane should also be immediately suspended and disciplined without delay as he was clearly hindering anti-corruption efforts and service delivery at the failing local authority – and also influencing top appointments at ELM, organised business has also demanded.
Klippies Kritzinger, CEO of the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC), said a second ELM report, separate from the Comperio report, into Nkoane’s disastrous meter replacement process, must also be made public without delay.
“Just as with his contract extension, omitting Nkoane’s name from the Comperio report is blatant political manipulation which will not only destroy what little trust stakeholders and the public have in Council and ELM, but also anger voters who see no service delivery but plenty of corruption.
“The question now is what hold does Nkoane have over Speaker Maipato Tsokolibane and ANC and EFF councillors who want to protect him against such overwhelming evidence? Why did the ANC and EFF vote to extend his contract and now to remove his name from the Comperio Report?
“In the end it is very silly of them because they should know that suppressing and censoring information only accelerates its dissemination,” said Kritzinger.
Comperio, a private forensics company, did not respond to requests for comment directed to its MD, Elsje Oosthuizen.
Nkoane – whose contract was recently extended by three months despite the Comperio report and smart meter debacle – is implicated along with Chief Financial Officer Andile Dyakala in the disastrous meter replacement process costing ELM more than R50 million in lost revenue, increased power theft and damaged infrastructure.
Attempts to table the Comperio report earlier were frustrated by ELM Council Speaker Maipato Tsokolibane who postponed three council sittings in a row aimed at holding Nkoane accountable.
When the report was finally tabled last week, it was without Nkoane’s name on the insistence of the ANC and EFF and has sparked a social media war in which Tsokolibane was accused of undermining her own party (ANC) and Executive Mayor Gift Moerane, said political sources.
The decision to omit Nkoane from the Comperio was made unilaterally without a full sitting of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, a multi-party structure.
Moerane was compelled by Law to submit the Comperio report but was frustrated in his fiduciary duty by Tsokolibane who kept on cancelling council meetings to protect Nkoane, said political insiders.
Tsokolibane is known in political circles as being sympathetic to the EFF despite being in the ANC and EFF councillors have expressed vocal support for Nkoane, who has also been accused of interfering in party politics to avoid suspension for gross negligence and dereliction of duty, according to political sources.
Outraged individual councillors from the ANC, EFF, and DA contacted Mooivaal Media on condition of anonymity to express opposition to the decision to omit Nkoane’s name from the Comperio report.
“Where is accountability of officials and how do we explain this to voters at grass-roots level,” said one EFF Councillor.