Speaker of council clarifies Qbit investigation

The municipal public accounts committee brought the item on Qbit to council in January 2013.

The council then resolved, among others, that:

•  The city manager be requested to forward a report to a special investigation unit (SIU) for urgent investigation.
•  The matter be forwarded to the offices of the auditor general (AG) and Gauteng MEC for local government for information
•  Once the investigation has been concluded, the city manager must submit a full report to council in-committee.

In the process of implementing the council resolution, the municipality commissioned a forensic investigation — a process which was overseen by the audit committee, an external structure outside the municipality.

That investigation has since been completed and the report was recently presented to the leadership of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, meaning the executive mayor, Speaker of council, chief whip of council, MPAC chairperson and the city manager.

Now that the forensic investigation has been concluded, the audit committee has submitted the report to the offices of the public protector, SIU, AG and the MEC for local government as per the resolution of council.

Meanwhile, with the advice of the audit committee after obtaining legal opinion, the municipality has resolved that all the people cited in the forensic report be given an opportunity to respond to the findings.

As a Speaker I have already submitted a letter to the executive mayor to kick-start the process of engaging the affected individuals.

Only after this process has been undertaken will the report be made available to council for discussion.

The Ekurhuleni council remains confident that all the steps undertaken thus far will ensure that this matter is thoroughly and properly dealt with and closed.