Here’s how many officials have been implicated by SIU in Rooiwal water tender irregularities

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has provided a progress report on its investigations into municipal waste and corruption.

Senior SIU officials were before the standing committee on public accounts on Wednesday where they shared the outcomes of concluded investigations, as well as the progress on ongoing investigations.

Officials elaborated on 19 investigations, 15 of which had been completed and four that are still under investigation.

Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) accounted for six investigations each, with municipalities in North-West and Free State involved in five and two investigations, respectively.

Covering a host of Municipal Finance Management Act contraventions, the investigations involved at least 300 municipal officials.

Rooiwal wastewater tender

The largest of the ongoing investigations began with a 2023 proclamation and relates to the 2019 tender awarded to refurbish the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works in the Tshwane municipality.

To date, SIU investigators have found widespread irregularities and misrepresentations related to the appointment of the contractor and fraudulent misrepresentations in the contractor’s bid.

Additional claims under investigation are the fraudulent certification of records, contraventions of Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) regulations and the under-declaration of income by the contractor.

The SIU is investigating R147.8 million in irregular expenditure relayed to the Rooiwal plant and has so far issued 13 disciplinary referrals to the Tshwane municipality.

Additionally, six separate criminal referrals implicating 31 individuals have been made to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)

The SIU has also authored two interim presidential reports, identified 65 individuals for “high-level profiling” and “red-flagged” 27 municipal officials for lifestyle analysis, with nine external parties facing investigations into suspicious financial transactions

Four administrative referrals involving 39 individuals have also been made- one each to the Tshwane municipality, South African Revenue Service, Construction Industry Development Board and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.

Ongoing and completed investigations

An ongoing investigation into water and sports infrastructure projects in Brandfort has yielded three disciplinary referrals and three criminal referrals to the NPA.

In these instances, Masilonyana municipal officials deviated from procurement process to irregularly appoint services providers.

In an ongoing investigation into two Mahikeng contracts for construction machinery and vehicles, the SIU uncovered multiple bid evaluation and adjudication discrepancies.

So far, the SIU has secured four disciplinary referrals and three criminal referrals.

In the Thekwini municipality, an ongoing investigation into seven contracts for water and sanitation for schools and social housing projects has seen 18 officials facing disciplinary referrals.

The largest of the completed investigations involved the irregular sale of 221 social housing stands in Villa Liza, Ekurhuleni.

The SIU found that all transactions related to the sales were fraudulent and civil litigation is underway to return the properties to the municipality.

The case saw 208 cases referred to the NPA and 174 Financial Intelligence Centre referrals, among other sanctions.

Since 2012, the SIU has dealt with R1.1 billion worth of irregular municipal contracts and referred 362 individuals to the NPA for prosecution.

While R545 million in contracts have been set aside or deemed invalid, only R60 million in potential or actual cash and assets have been recovered.