The Hawks are looking into alleged corruption and tender irregularities involving senior municipal officials in Polokwane.
Mayor Makoro John Mpe has denied any wrongdoing after the offices of the beleaguered Polokwane local municipality were raided by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) this week.
The raid was conducted on Wednesday after an order by the Polokwane High Court.
Hawks investigating corruption and tender irregularities
It was part of a criminal investigation into alleged corruption and tender irregularities involving senior municipal officials.
According to the DA’s Jacques Joubert, the Hawks raid followed a whistleblower’s concerns about a list of 28 tenders totalling more than R724 million that may be linked to high-level municipal officials.
“The spreadsheet outlined bid numbers and contract values, most of which were awarded during 2022 and 2023 and suggests serious impropriety involving the Executive Mayor John Mpe and Municipal Manager Thuso Nemugumoni,” said Joubert.
“According to the document, a number of tenders were awarded to foreign-owned companies, while others allegedly involve entities with links to the mayor, the municipal manager, her partner and close personal associates.”
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There are also allegations of “tender kickbacks” surrounding Mpe’s Makoro Foundation. The foundation is purportedly used by contractors doing business with the Polokwane municipality to bankroll its day-to-day operations through fraudulent means.
Mpe denies wrongdoing
Both Mpe and Nemugumoni described the allegations as “lies”, spread by their political opponents.
According to the Hawks’ warrant, seen by The Citizen, the Hawks asked for the municipality’s gift register for the period 2023 to 2024 and all council resolutions and minutes regarding the declaration of gifts by council members and officials.
About 12 armed Hawks officials marched onto the Polokwane municipal offices to access the documents.
The EFF said the raid was “long overdue”.
“The EFF commends the Hawks for conducting a raid at the Polokwane municipality. This investigation is long overdue. Mpe and Nemugumoni have both thought this day would not come. They thought they were untouchable and could dribble their way out of this large-scale corruption they are involved in,” said party provincial chair, Lawrence Mapoulo.
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But, on Friday, Mpe denied that the Hawks had raided the municipal offices.
“The Hawks formally requested specific documents as part of their investigation processes and the municipality duly provided these documents. It is therefore misleading and inaccurate for some individuals and sections of the media to describe this process as a ‘raid’,” said Mpe.
Mayor accused of using courts to scupper Hawks
There were also allegations that Mpe and his foundation tried to prevent Hawks officials from entering the municipal offices to access documents. This after reports that Mpe and his foundation launched a court application to prevent the municipality from cooperating with the Hawks investigation.
Kgabo Maponya, the lawyer representing Mpe and the Makoro Foundation, denied this.
“The court application was launched because my clients believed that the lead investigators from Hawks were flouting processes towards accessing information from the municipality regarding my clients.
“Like any other citizen, Mr Mpe is entitled to exercise his right to approach the courts when his constitutional rights are under attack as a result of the abuse of public power by the Hawks. To do so can never amount to legal manoeuvres as suggested by other media houses.”
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Maponya said Mpe has nothing to hide.
“My clients voluntarily disclosed Makoro Foundation’s bank statements to the Hawks and to the high court to dispute any insinuation that there is some misconduct on their part.”
Nemugumoni also said her hands are clean.
“Our doors are always open for any investigation. We are leading a successfull council and we have got nothing to hide… As far as I know, we have a clean and professional relationship with the Hawks and we cannot refuse them access to any documents. We are an open book and genuine law-abiding citizens and we are not above the law,” she claimed.
