Municipal officials get bail
8 held by road traffic anti-graft unit on fraud rap[
THREE Eastern Cape municipal officials have been granted R10 000 bail after appearing in court on charges of fraud and corruption.
The three officials from King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality’s vehicle testing station appeared in the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court earlier this week.
A fourth official, based at Mnquma municipality in Butterworth, was also arrested, however, the outcome of that case could not be determined at the time of writing yesterday.
They were part of a group of eight arrested by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) anticorruption unit.
The unit, assisted by the police, this week carried out raids as part of a crackdown on the fraudulent and corrupt issuing of vehicle roadworthy certificates in the Eastern Cape.
The four municipal officials – three of them vehicle examiners and the other a cashier – were arrested on allegations that they colluded to have roadworthy certificates issued for vehicles that were not physically presented to the station for testing and examination.
RTMC spokesman Simon Zwane said a male examiner was arrested at the Butterworth testing centre on charges of fraud and corruption.
The three others, two examiners and one a cashier, were linked to the Mthatha testing station.
Mthatha police spokesman LieutenantMzukisi Fatyela said about four computers were taken from the centres during the raid.
Municipal spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza said one of the accused had worked at the centre but had since retired from work. “The matter is now in the hands of the police but the municipality will not fold its arms. Institutional processes will have to unfold,” he said.
Zwane said of the remaining four, two were arrested in Port Elizabeth, one in Butterworth and one in Mthatha’s Ezinyoka township. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za