Kei municipal ex-intern arrested for payments to ghost employees
A former finance department intern at the Great Kei municipality was arrested on Thursday for allegedly creating ghost employees and defrauding the broke local authority of more than R300,000 over two years.
The intern, Nolitha Situmane – who now works for one of the universities in the province – briefly appeared in the Komga magistrate’s court on Thursday, facing three counts of fraud.
Her arrest was confirmed by police spokesperson Captain Mluleki Mbi, who said Situmane, 30, was released on warning. She will appear in court again on November 18.
Great Kei municipal manager Lawrence Mambila said Situmane’s arrest came after an investigation into financial irregularities at the municipality.
Mambila said the issue of ghost employees was spotted by the auditor-general in the last assessment of the municipality’s finances and operations.
“I can confirm the arrested person was a finance intern at our budget and treasury office.
“It is understood that she had defrauded the council of over R300,000 which she paid into the accounts of three ghost employees over two years.
“The municipality was paying salaries into the bank accounts of people who could not be accounted for during a physical count of employees that we recently conducted,” said Mambila.
He said one of the three ghost employees used to be a ward committee member in the municipality. All three affected people have given evidence to investigators.
He said investigations into alleged irregularities in the municipality were ongoing and he could not rule out more arrests of former and current officials.
“This arrest is a step in the right direction.
“This will send out a warning to anyone that we will not tolerate fraudulent activities in our council.
“It is a fact that the municipality is struggling and we believe what she allegedly did has contributed immensely to that unfortunate situation,” said Mambila.
This will send out a warning to anyone that we will not tolerate fraudulent activities in our council