Criminal, civil cases hang over Amatola water boss

Suspended CEO says she has not been approached about a defamation suit or any public finance act charge

Two cases, one civil and one criminal, are apparently being pursued against suspended Amatola Water boss Vuyo Zitumane — but the CEO says she has yet to be approached about either case.

Last week, water & sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s spokesperson, McIntosh Polela, said the minister had instructed her legal team to institute a defamation lawsuit against Zitumane.

Polela told the Dispatch on Thursday the matter was now with lawyers.

Polela confirmed Sisulu was aware of criminal charges by Amatola against its CEO, but added that Amatola Water was better placed to respond to that issue.

Amatola Water Board’s interim chair, Maxwell Sirenya — who was axed and reinstated in January, according to a City Press report — claimed to have opened a criminal case against Zitumane in late May.

The Dispatch has seen Sirenya’s letter to Sisulu, in which he informs the minister he has opened a criminal case against Zitumane. The letter, dated May 21, does not state the charges or where and when the case was opened.

“Following the investigation conducted by Open Water Advanced Risk Solutions at your behest into the affairs of Amatola Water, which concluded that certain acts committed by the CE[O] of Amatola Water, Ms Zitumane, are of a criminal nature, it has become necessary for me as an accounting authority to sanction the laying of criminal charges against her with the South African Police Service. I wish to confirm that these have been laid,” the letter reads.

In the letter, Sirenya writes that he had laid the charges in terms of 7.2.1 of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999, draft treasury regulations 2012.

These regulations stipulate that if an investigation confirms that financial misconduct is of a criminal nature, the accounting officer must lay charges within seven days. The letter was written just days before Sisulu instructed her lawyers to open the civil case against Zitumane on May 27.

Sirenya had not responded to queries about the charges, a request for a case number or a comment by print deadline on Thursday.

Amatola spokesperson Nosisa Sogayise said she was not privy to the letter or whether a case had been opened against Zitumane.

Zitumane said she had not heard from either the minister’s lawyers or the police.

On May 27, Polela issued a statement on the government website indicating the minister’s intention to sue Zitumane and Lepelle Northern Water Board CEO Phineas Legodi after the Dispatch and other media reported on affidavits they’d made in which they alleged interference in supply chain management.

“Having been outraged by the preposterous allegations in two ‘affidavits’ and the highly defamatory statements given to the media on a range of allegations against the minister and officials in the ministry by the (CEOs) of Amatola Water Board and Lepelle Northern Water Board, the minister of human settlements, water & sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu has consulted with her team of lawyers and has decided to sue the two CEOs and other individuals who joined them in this defamatory charade,”

Polela said.

The allegations were “gross and ridiculous fabrications” emanating “from very desperate people”, he added.

Zitumane and Legodi are both under investigation at the behest of Sisulu.

Both suspended CEOs believe they are being targeted for their refusal to break supply chain regulations despite pressure from the minister and her advisers.

The probe into Amatola Water includes an investigation into the financial affairs of the state-owned entity and lifestyle audits of all executives, including members of the previous board.

In her affidavit, dated April 23 and submitted to the police’s East London commercial crimes unit, Zitumane describes talks she had with Mphumzi Mdekazi, Sisulu’s advisor, in August.

She alleges that Mdekazi told her the Eastern Cape should support Sisulu as the next presidential candidate “as he failed the last time and such campaign has put him into serious debts”.

Zitumane said that in October Mdekazi told her about a sand abstraction pilot project that Lepelle Northern Water CEO Legodi was “dragging his feet” on.

Mdekazi allegedly told her he had advised Sisulu that Legodi should be dismissed as a consequence, she said.

Zitumane said that after she expressed interest in the project for its potential to alleviate the drought in the Eastern Cape,

Mdekazi told her he could source the funds from the department of human settlements, water & sanitation, but Amatola Water would need to make a proposal.

Zitumane opened a case against Mdekazi in terms of the Prevention & Combating of Corrupt Activities Act with the Hawks.

Asked by the Dispatch on Thursday if she had heard from the minister’s lawyers, a defiant Zitumane said: “Not yet, but they will never win.”

Questioned about the charges that Sirenya purportedly laid, Zitumane said: “I’ve been hearing about that out there.

“I have not been charged and I doubt this would even go to the courts. I am patiently waiting for the charges.”