BUSTED, BUSTED, BUSTED
10 arrested over R600-million Siyenza toilet scam, including former ADM municipal manager Chris Magwangqana
Suspects to appear in East London court on Friday
Hours after swooping on 10 alleged masterminds behind the looting of millions of rand from a rural Eastern Cape municipality, the Hawks turned their attention to seizing the suspects’ assets on Thursday.
The elite crime fighting unit simultaneously pounced on former Amathole district municipality (ADM) municipal manager Chris Magwangqana, Siyenza Group bosses Bongani Mpeluza and Vuyani Gaga, former Siyenza CFO Busisiwe Kwinana, former ADM corporate services director (and current chief of staff for finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko) Lulama Taleni, former acting CEO of cooperative governance & traditional affairs’ municipal infrastructure support agency (Misa) Ongama Mahlawe, current Misa CEO Ntandazo Vimba, and three others in East London, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
Their arrests, which have been seen as a step towards realising President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise of cracking down on corruption, were confirmed by Hawks national spokesperson Col Katlego Mogale.
The 10 will appear in the East London magistrate’s court on Friday to answer to corruption, fraud and money laundering charges.
The Hawks probed the R600m case after National Treasury raised the alarm on how the suspects had apparently colluded to flout normal tendering processes when a multimillionrand sanitation tender was awarded to the politically connected and controversial Siyenza Group in 2015.
The Daily Dispatch broke the award-winning story and extensively reported on how the company had been handpicked and awarded the tender to build ventilated improved toilets in areas like Butterworth and Kwelera, where its work was characterised by poor workmanship. Some toilets had sunk into the ground, while in some villages the company dumped material and never went back.
In some cases, Siyenza was paid before it even lifted a finger.
In February 2015, Magwangqana, who was one of the first three people arrested and detained at the Cambridge police station on Thursday, admitted that about R286m of the R600m was a loan from the
Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) as part of the municipal infrastructure grant
— and said they had to bypass normal procurement processes because the National Treasury would have taken the money back.
When the Dispatch arrived at the Cambridge police station shortly after 9am on Thursday, officials from the ADM were seen coming in and out of the police station while others made phone calls.
ADM council chief whip Solomzi Ndwayana was in a bakkie parked outside the station. He did not alight.
When approached for comment, he referred the Dispatch to the municipality’s communications unit.
ADM spokesperson Nonceba Madikizela-Vuso would not comment and referred all questions to the Hawks.
Finance ministry spokesperson Mashudu Masutha-Rammutle promised to comment but was yet to do so by print deadline.
On Thursday, Mogale said: “Asset forfeiture processes are under way. The outstanding collaboration with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the EC made it possible for the case to proceed.”
While it could not be established whether any assets of the 10 had been seized by print deadline on Thursday, the fact that the Hawks have now set their sights on the assets means they suspect them to have been bought with the proceeds.
Political parties in the Eastern Cape, as well as the SA Municipal Workers’ Union in ADM, welcomed the arrests, saying the National Prosecuting Authority should now present watertight cases in court.
Acting Hawks national head Lt-Gen Yolisa Matakata heaped praise on the officers who carried out the investigation and arrests.
“This development is most welcome in our greater fight against corruption to ensure that clean and credible governance prevails,” she said.
“We will stop at nothing to ensure that corrupt perpetrators, be they in the private sector or government, are brought to book.”
NPA regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali confirmed they had been working closely with the Hawks throughout the investigation, but said they would comment extensively only after the 10 had appeared in court.