Municipal officials face criminal charges over R35-m irregular expenditure
It is understood that when officials realised that the municipality was about to be merged they thought they should spend as much as possible.
Officials and senior executives implicated in the former Ezinqoleni municipality corruption report are to face a number of criminal charges for their alleged involvement in irregular expenditure amounting to R35 million.
The officials include top and middle-tier staff in the supply chain management unit and administrative units.
On Monday, Cooperate Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube instructed Ray Nkonyeni Municipality during a special council meeting to look into whether there were any councillors who had contravened the councillors code of conduct in terms of the municipal systems act.
The MEC further instructed council to report those involved to the SAPS as required by the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act
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The implicated officials at Izongolweni Municipality had allegedly spent the R35 million in just one month during its merger with then Hibiscus Coast Municipality to form Ray Nkonyeni Municipality.
It is understood that when officials realised that the municipality was about to be merged they thought they should spend as much as possible.
Dube-Ncube said the forensic investigations had recommended charges including criminal, disciplinary measures and civil recoveries against the staff and those who had since left.
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The probe found that tender procedures were violated in the building of community halls. In other projects, the appointment of service providers flouted the supply chain management processes, and the processes followed did not comply with legal requirements.
Read more on this in tomorrow’s South Coast Herald.
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