Hawks raid offices at DA-run municipality
Operation in Langeberg follows allegations of fraud, corruption
THE Hawks swooped on the DA-controlled Langeberg Municipality yesterday, raiding its tourism office, other municipal buildings, a private business and 15 homes following allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering.
Hawks Western Cape spokesperson Captain Philane Nkwalase said allegations have been levelled against senior municipal officials and others in relation to the gross violation of procurement processes and maladministration.
“The operation follows allegations of fraud, corruption, money laundering and contraventions of the Municipality Finance Management Act at the municipality.” The search and seizure operation was conducted at, among others, the Langeberg municipality’s Kommando Building in Robertson, Thusang Disaster Recovery Site in Robertson, Callie de Wet Sportsentrum in Robertson, Langeberg Tourism, the municipal building in Ashton, a private business and about 15 private residences.“This comes in the wake of alleged interference by officials, who apparently removed potentially incriminating documents from municipal offices to private homes in an attempt to avoid being prosecuted,” Nkwalase said. No arrests have yet been made.
Meanwhile, the removal of Knysna mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies – described by DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela as a coup d’état – followed the ousting of three other DA mayors.
Madikizela said two councillors in Knysna had voted with the opposition ANC to remove Bouw-Spies. She was replaced as mayor by DA councillor Mark Willemse.
“One of the two councillors who voted with the ANC is now the mayor of the municipality,” he said.
“The rest of the (DA) caucus walked out of the (council) meeting and the two who stayed voted with the opposition. That is very wrong. They should have informed us as the leadership (so we could) sort out whatever matters were troubling them.”
He said the DA caucuses in the Matzikama, Bergrivier and George municipalities had taken action against those in leadership positions. Last month, Bergrivier mayor Evert Manuel resigned before council was to vote on whether he should be removed. Matzikama mayor Rhenda Stephens also resigned, while George mayor Melvin Naik was removed after a string of allegations of corruption and maladministration were made against him, and a Hawks investigation was launched.
“We are getting out those who are not performing. Some people say there is a major crisis in the party. There is nothing like that. We are dealing with these issues,” Madikizela said.
Meanwhile, Titi Gombo, the ANC chief whip in the Knysna council, said the council meeting where Bouw-Spies was removed as mayor represented a failure of leadership.
“The ANC once again demonstrated that we are not interested in cheap politicking to the detriment of service delivery. The ANC motion to remove the mayor suggested that as the opposition party we could not watch while the mayor failed to provide leadership.
“The removal of the mayor… proved that it was not only the ANC who had lost confidence in the leadership of the former mayor but two DA council members… and two other councillors from smaller parties supported the ANC motion,” Gombo said.
The SA Communist Party in Western Cape said political turmoil within the DA had “compromised the delivery of services to the people of the province”.