Investigating corruption in the city has become a dangerous job, writes
Siphelele Buthelezi
THE number of complaints about corruption in the city is increasing, and staff at ethekwini Municipality’s corruption watchdog, the city integrity and investigations unit (CIIU), are on high alert following recent threats.
But this, says senior manager Tholakele Ngubane, comes with the territory of rooting out fraud and corruption. “I have not received any threats, but my colleagues, including the CIIU executive, have,” Ngubane told the Sunday Tribune.
“It’s happening a lot. It’s a reality and it’s getting worse now as people are feeling the results of our investigations.”
The CIIU falls under the office of the city manager, Sipho Nzuza, and is responsible for ensuring good governance and corruption-free administration.
Exactly how successful the unit has been in exposing corruption is not reflected on the CIIU’S website. The section under its “Success Stories” tab is blank. But Ngubane, whose key role is to promote awareness of the CIIU’S work, believes the unit is keeping officials on their toes following several probes that have led to arrests, dismissals and the blacklisting of several firms.
And clearly the unit has touched on some sensitive issues, evident from a letter sent by the auditor-general to the city manager’s office this week advising that several of his staff had received death threats after requesting documents from the CIIU and the supply chain department.
Ngubane said it was not her role to comment on this, referring queries about the documents the auditors had asked for, and whether the CIIU furnished them, to the city’s communications department.
She said the CIIU investigated a wide variety of complaints ranging from procurement fraud, job scams, abuse of municipal vehicles, theft of infrastructure, non-declaration of interests, nepotism and work-related grievances.
The CIIU received an average of about 80 complaints a month – a lot more than previous years. Investigations mainly arose from complaints and tip-offs from people phoning the fraud hotline 0800 20 20 20. Other whistle-blowers either e-mailed the CIIU or came to its offices. She said the CIIU had 1 200 cases on its register for the financial year ending June 30. On average, a full-blown CIIU investigation took one to three months to complete, following which recommendations were submitted to the city manager, who then ensured the relevant departments took action.asked whether the CIIU had mechanisms in place to ensure recommendations were implemented, Ngubane responded: “We do have a monitoring schedule where we ensure, in each and every case, there’s action taken, and recommendations are implemented.”
Cases had also been referred to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
Blow the whistle on corruption in ethekwini. Call the toll-free hotline: 0800 20 20 20