Hawks to probe city officials

Slow pace of investigations into fraud a concern

POLITICAL parties have welcomed the announcement of investigations into corruption by eThekwini municipality officials by the Hawks.

Yesterday, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi of the Hawks confirmed to the Daily News that a number of investigations were being conducted by the organisation into officials at the municipality.

He said the Hawks were working with the municipality’s Integrity and Investigations unit to probe the corruption that has besieged the municipality. Mulaudzi said they had begun the investigations after receiving several complaints about the slow pace of investigations into fraud within the city. He told the Daily News that the team of investigators were experts from around the country. Although some of the allegations had been reported by the City Integrity and Investigations Unit, (CIIU), the Hawks also had begun some of their own probes into maladministration at the municipality.

Mulaudzi could not give a timeframe for how long investigations would take.

The announcement of the investigations comes after the Daily News reported last week that the home of eThekwini Municipality’s head of the CIIU, Mbuso Ngcobo, had been invaded by three armed men who had assaulted a security guard at his Hillcrest home.

Ngcobo had previously said that the unit had been responsible for a number of dismissals and suspensions of officials and senior executives within the municipality.

EThekwini executive council member Heinz de Boer said he welcomed investigations, but the slow pace at which they were conducted was an issue. Another worry was the length of time it took to arrest people and get them to court. Whistleblowers who informed on officials also needed to be protected, he said.

De Boer said there needed to be a point at which accountability stopped, and that department heads within the municipality needed to take responsibility for the corruption that happens under their watch, especially since they were paid about R1.2 million a year.

“Many councillors are exasperated as there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight,” De Boer said of the corruption at the municipality.

Mdu Nkosi, IFP exco member, said the investigations would implicate big names in the city. He said this would also give people an opportunity to have their day in court so that they could clear their names. Like de Boer, Nkosi said there were many investigations that were taking a long time to be completed. He said there were many people who had been suspended on full pay and had not been working for months. “We are tired of investigations without any outcomes,” he said.

Vusi Khoza, KwaZulu-Natal chairperson of the Economic Freedom Fighters, said the investigations were long overdue as there was widespread corruption within the municipality and some people should have been behind bars already. He said he hoped there would soon be arrests of politicians who were behind the corruption, and officials who were facilitating it. Khoza said he hoped that there was a quick trial which would send a message that corruption and fraud would not be tolerated.

Msawakhe Mayisela, eThekwini spokesperson, said they welcomed the investigations into the matter and would co-operate with law enforcement agencies. “Corruption is enemy number one,” he said.