Guilty official offers city deal
10 days’ suspension over dodgy tender
A HIGH-RANKING city official has made a proposal to the eThekwini municipality to plead guilty to charges of misconduct and negligence in a R36million toilet tender, saying he was remorseful for his inaction and was still committed to executing service delivery.
In his proposal, the city’s sanitation operations deputy head, Sibusiso Vilane, said there had been no malicious intent to defraud the municipality and that the project had nevertheless been a success.
Vilane proposed that if the municipality accepted his guilty plea, he would accept either 10 days’ suspension without pay or no salary increment for the next 12 months.
Vilane was cited in a report compiled by the city’s integrity and investigations unit, which probed irregularities in a tender for 2 200 urine-diversion toilets that were to be supplied to communities and schools in 31 rural and semi-urban municipal wards, including KwaXimba, Cato Ridge and KwaNyuswa.
Urine-diversion toilets separate urine from faeces and are deemed cheaper than waterborne sewage, which is considered costly, especially in rural areas and informal settlements.
The Mercury previously reported on the leaked report that blew the lid on the irregular tender. The report revealed that no toilets had been built by the expected date, but payments were made to the implicated companies.
Speaking to The Mercury yesterday, Vilane said he believed the report was done hastily and contained false information. He denied that prices for the toilets had been inflated.
“I made this proposal to the municipality because I am genuinely remorseful that the project went in that direction.
“I cannot confirm if the municipality has agreed to my proposal. You would have to ask them as this is an internal matter between the employer and employee,” he said.
EThekwini spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said he could not discuss the matter as it was an internal issue between employer and employee.
In the proposal, Vilane said he intended to plead guilty to the charge of negligence in that he approved payments to the service providers without doing a site inspection to establish if the material had been delivered.
“The reason being that due to the nature of my position as a deputy head, I cannot always go to sites and inspect the project deliverables as I have subordinates in lower positions tasked with the verification of the goods and services rendered.
“Additionally, at the time of signing the invoices, I was nominated acting head of department and had little time to go and do verification on the ground about all the project’s payments coming to my office for signature…” his proposal reads.
He said he had worked on the project since its inception and had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the project at the time of signing the invoices for the material purchases.
“I wish to state that there was no malicious intent to defraud the municipality, and all the deliverables related to the project have all been accounted for. The toilets were constructed and delivered to the needy communities of eThekwini municipality, pursuant to my effort to ensure there was value for money, and wasteful expenditure was avoided,” Vilane stated.