Daily Dispatch
Why the silence on Mnquma?
MILLIONS siphoned out of the coffers of a bankrupt municipality. Two culprits killed in separate car crashes. Records expunged from computers by a virus. An ANC boss and two municipal bosses implicated . . . What a saga and where will the trail end?
It could be the stuff of a detective mystery novel. The trouble is, these elements are far from fiction. They make up the story of rampant and obscene looting – in which the Amathole regional secretary Teris Ntutu and the Mnquma municipality are deeply implicated in manipulating tender processes for the purposes of kickbacks.
This at the cost of citizens in a poor, underdeveloped municipality who must suffer further deprivation of essential services.
Shocking details from this saga were revealed this week when the National Director of Public Prosecutions approached the Grahamstown High Court in a bid to lock down as much as possible of what remains of R31-million creamed off public funds.
The lid was blown off the dirty dealings in Mnquma in January by Dispatch reporter Bongani Fuzile. He revealed that 30-year-old Sive Nombembe, who two years ago battled to break even, had suddenly rocketed into millionaire’s row with a R10-million tender to supply Mnquma with 1.3 million black bags. It transpired that Nombembe paid just R500 000 for the bags – about 40c each – while the municipality, in turn, paid his company Big Event Boy, about R10 a bag.
Nombembe pocketed a cool R9-million – profit of 1 600% – for the deal.
He was subsequently charged with fraud and corruption, along with the Mnquma manager Sindile Tantsi, senior Mnquma manager Zanele Mbewu, and businessman Regis Masuku. Ntutu was arrested later.
The cases have, however, been slowed down because Nombembe and Tantsi have both been killed in separate car accidents.
Yesterday the NDPP put the findings of a forensic audit by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) before the court as the basis of their bid to have financial restraints set in place.
Shockingly, the reported revealed that not one but three dodgy tenders were awarded to Nombembe – one for electrification and another for selling tar to Mnquma, also outrageously marked up to score a 91% profit.
But more startling, the report contained powerful evidence against Ntutu in a letter signed by Nombembe and sent to then ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane.
In it, Nombembe acknowledges culpability and details how Ntutu pressured him into paying kickbacks, apparently to the ANC.
The auditors’ report also concluded that there had been gross negligence on the part of the bid adjudication or bid evaluation committees, or deliberate manipulation.
Yet, after all is said and done, there have still been no interventions made by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs which has oversight over Mnquma, or by the provincial ANC, which plainly was aware of what’s been going on.
Granted, criminal investigations have been under way, but how on earth is the public supposed be believe their affairs are in safe hands when the governing party and the department in charge both remain mute and there is uncertainty over where the money trail leads?