Eight Umzinyathi officials were suspended last week by Umzinyathi District Mayor, Petros Ngubane, based on the findings of forensic audits instituted in June when the IFP took office.
Mayor Ngubane vowed to take immediate action to investigate, through forensic audits.
The Umzinyathi Municipality could not account for the R300 million in irregular expenditure.
In an interview with the Greytown Gazette on Monday, the Mayor said that the Head of Corporate Services and middle management, covering finance, were among the suspended based on four forensic audits undertaken by COGTA; the Treasury; Public Protector and Umzinyathi.

Following on from this, the Mayor called in Umzinyathi contractors on October 5 and Umzinyathi consultants on October 6, to look into projects, payments etc.

The next step will be hearings – in the meantime, acting personnel have been placed to do these jobs.
These hearings, the Mayor said, would be out-sourced and depending on the outcome, the individuals could be charged, asked to pay back the money or even have their property attached via a Court order.
Following on from this, the Mayor called in Umzinyathi contractors on October 5 and Umzinyathi consultants on October 6, to look into projects, payments etc.
One consultant who been on the books with Umzinyathi Municipality since 2005 –with the project still not completed. In another incident, the municipality had been invoiced and paid up twice for the same project.