Church embroiled in relief fund graft

THE HAWKS have confirmed they are investigating allegations of misappropriation of the City’s Humanitarian Funds involving a church in Table View.

In a statement, Good Party secretary-general Brett Herron said it was alleged that funds allocated to humanitarian relief were paid to an organisation in Atlantis and then immediately transferred to the church minus a fee.

“We can only confirm the matter is under investigation,” Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said.

Herron alleged the church was not entitled to the money.

“The transfer of the funds to the church, which was not lawfully entitled to receive public funds, was picked up in the course of an investigation into Ters fraud.

“DA councillors are said to have been involved in identifying the church as the end-recipient of the funds, and City officials were in on the plan,” he charged.

Herron said a senior DA member in Atlantis had been arrested and more arrests were anticipated.

“What is not known at this stage is whether the money was to be used to advance the prospects of a particular DA candidate in an internal battle for position, or to benefit the party more generally. Local government elections are to be held in October,” he said.

The City has since dismissed the claims.

“Conditions for the City’s grant-inaid (GIA) funding encourage recipient organisations to partner with smaller community-based groups to deliver food relief.

“The terms of the funding do not allow for transfer of funds from GIA recipient organisations to third parties, which is what occurred in one instance of an Atlantis-based NGO transferring money to a church to conduct direct food relief work.

“While reports show that all funds went towards the intended purpose of food relief, the City is nevertheless in the process of recovering the unspent portion of the R170 000 total funding as this should not have been transferred to the church in terms of the grant-in-aid conditions.

“The City is working with the authorities in this regard including providing all relevant information to the Hawks,” the City said.

The DA said the arrested suspect was no longer a member of the party.

“As the political head for Atlantis, I can confirm that the suspect arrested in late 2020 in connection with alleged Ters fraud is no longer a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA),” MP Emma Powell said.

Herron said he had written to Local Government MEC Anton Bredell requesting him to conduct an investigation in terms of Sec 106 of the Municipal Systems Act.

Bredell said he took the allegations seriously.

His spokesperson James-Brent Styan said: “The MEC intends addressing correspondence to Mr Herron to request that he provide all relevant supporting documentation in his possession.

“Thereafter, the municipality will be formally advised of the allegations in accordance with section 5 of the Western Cape Monitoring and Support of Municipalities Act, (“the Western Cape Act”) and provided with an opportunity to respond thereto.”