City official in hot water over deal to secure venue for ANC
Report says eThekwini deputy city manager committed metro to pay for party meeting
A senior official in the eThekwini municipality made a payment commitment on behalf of the metro to book the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) in what has now been exposed as a scheme to help the ANC secure the venue.
Deputy city manager Sipho Cele has been revealed as the official who allegedly conspired with ANC leaders in the region to help the governing party gain access to the ICC under false pretences.
The money was ultimately not paid, probably because officials in the municipality blew the whistle on the deal by leaking information about it to KwaZulu-Natal ActionSA leader Zwakele Mncwango.
An internal investigation report has revealed that Cele signed a document initiating payment of R5m for a three-day Women’s Month launch that did not take place. Instead, the venue was used for an ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) conference.
In its findings, eThekwini’s integrity and investigation unit concluded that the “Durban International Convention Centre would not have given the venue over for the ANCWL conference without the signed agreement by the deputy city manager”.
According to the investigation report: “The ICC received a request for [a] quotation to use its venue from eThekwini municipality for 13,500 delegates for dates 4 to 7 August. During our investigation it was brought to our attention that ANC KwaZulu-Natal had ... requested the ICC for a quotation for 1,300 delegates from 4 to 6 August but cancelled their enquiry the following day.”
The report makes no mention of how the ANCWL conference took place from August 4-8 following the cancellation. It also makes no mention of a cancellation by eThekwini municipality. Instead, it finds that the “ICC conducted a normal business transaction by ensuring that, come what may, their payment is secured by the agreement ”— presumably by the eThekwini municipality for the ANC.
The investigation further revealed that on August 10 amendments were made to the original agreement between the ICC and the eThekwini municipality (represented by Cele), after which a final invoice of almost R4.8m was issued to eThekwini municipality for Cele’s attention.
The report does not explain why the ICC and Cele amended the agreement for an eThekwini municipality event that did not take place three days after it should have ended. Also not explained is why the ICC invoiced the eThekwini municipality for the function.
An excerpt from the report says: “Sipho Cele in his own statement mentioned planning with [ANC regional secretary] Musa Nciki to retain the booking at the ICC while the ANC was raising funds to pay the ICC.” Nciki is the secretary of the ANC in eThekwini, the host region for the conference.
It is unclear how Cele, a city official, ended up in such discussions with a political leader outside the municipality.
But the investigation concluded that “there was no money paid by eThekwini municipality to [the] ICC for the ANCWL conference”.
Neither Cele nor Nciki responded to questions from the Sunday Times. Municipal officials, including mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, did not respond to questions.
Mncwango said ActionSA had been vindicated by the report’s findings. However, he called for sanctions: “We can’t single out one party — this scheme needed collaboration between different individuals. We are happy the truth is out.
“As a way forward, we believe that, beyond charges for Sipho Cele, there should be criminal charges against everyone involved.”
Mncwango also raised concerns about Cele “collaborating” with the ANC.
“We are demanding that the IEC [Electoral Commission of South Africa] remove him as an electoral officer,” he said.
“The fact that he collaborated with the ANC — by his own admission, he engaged with the secretary of the ANC in the region in booking the venue for the ANC — means this person is not working for the public, but for the ANC. As a political party, we can’t trust him to oversee elections.”
Cele did not respond to questions about his credibility as an IEC officer after his admission that he had worked with the ANC to secure a conference venue.
Mncwango said ActionSA hopes its motion to remove the ICC board can now be tabled at council.
“We demand a further investigation [of] the ICC management, especially the CEO and the board. We believe the board must be disbanded.
“We are now calling on the speaker to bring back our motion for discussion, because he removed it on the basis that we must wait for this report.
“Since this report [has come] out, we have enough grounds to debate the motion calling for disbandment of this board,” Mncwango added.