Africa-Press – South-Africa. Two senior officials at the Polokwane Local Municipality in Limpopo have been suspended following a forensic report that detailed a litany of corruption.
The municipality has since indicated that more officials implicated in the report would be subjected to “consequence management”.
The report, compiled by forensic firm Bowman-Gilfillan, and which was tabled at a recent council meeting, revealed how some senior officials were involved in corrupt activities.
These included major irregularities with supply chain management processes and officials altering documents to hide inadequacies.
Others included irregularities in the appointment of a service provider for rapid bus transport, which could see the municipality losing R17.8 million due to prepayment for buses.
There were also verified cases of malfeasance in water projects and numerous contraventions of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
Councillors were only allowed access to the summarised version of the report during a recent council meeting.
Mayor John Mpe said while the report contained names of officials, “this does not mean they are guilty of wrongdoing”. He said the report should not be seen as a witch hunt.
Mpe said:
He added that the implicated officials had to go through the proper disciplinary processes to test the validity of the allegations.
While the DA welcomed the report, it also demanded full access to it.
The party’s caucus leader in the municipality, Jacques Joubert, said it was clear that “the devil lies in the detail and that access to the full report is required to hold officials and public representatives accountable”.
“The DA demands that all officials found guilty of maladministration face the full might of the law and that criminal charges be laid by the accounting officer.” he said.
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