GFIS was formed in 2016. It was meant to save the city from losing money through corruption and fraud.
While the City of Johannesburg is facing financial challenges, it has spent R12 million investigating its own corruption-fighting unit, Group Forensic Investigation Services (GFIS).
In a statement on Monday, ActionSA accused the City of Johannesburg of wasting money on investigating GFIS.
GFIS has been accused of carrying out spying activities on some ANC councillors, but there has not been tangible evidence despite numerous investigations.
“We strongly encourage those seeking to continue this witch-hunt to instead demand answers as to why over R12 million has been squandered on it to date, with no preliminary report ever seeing the light of day and, after years of work, making no progress.
“This witch-hunt, set to cost residents a total of R40 million or more, simply cannot be justified and, given the city’s dismal balance sheet, is an expenditure it cannot afford for what is nothing more than a vendetta-driven exercise that was rightly questioned and suspended pending a review,” said the party’s Marcel Countriers.
GFIS is one of Herman Mashaba’s legacy projects in the City of Johannesburg. He launched this corruption-busting unit to fight the abuse of municipal funds.
Mashaba’s legacy project
Countriers said the current administration in the city is trying to erase Mashaba’s good work as mayor of Johannesburg.
“ActionSA will always stand firmly by the fight against corruption launched by Herman Mashaba during his tenure as mayor.
“To the deep displeasure of those who had been looting the city blind, the corruption-busting unit he established, namely the Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS), investigated over 6 000 cases involving transactions worth R35 billion, marking one of the most decisive anti-corruption efforts in any municipality in South Africa’s history,” said Countriers.
Will GFIS close down?
Critics said there seems to be a coordinated effort by the current administration to try to close down this corruption-fighting unit.
“Unsurprisingly, attempts to exacerbate the city’s current regression have found eager champions in failed former mayor Thapelo Amad, who seems determined to accelerate the decline through unscrupulous demands for pointless witch-hunts.
“This is only aimed at distracting from the fight against corruption by unjustly targeting the very efforts that put an end to the large-scale corruption which brought Johannesburg to its knees,” he said.
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Still no evidence of spying
Mashaba has denied that GFIS has been used to spy on ANC councillors. This matter was also reported to State Security, but it also did not find any negative findings against GFIS.
Last year, a GFIS forensic investigator was shot dead in Johannesburg. It is believed that he was investigating corruption involving members of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD).
At the time, the city had also proposed extra protection for their GFIS investigators.
