Msunduzi staff suspended

STAFF members at the Msunduzi Municipality have been placed on suspension after allegations emerged of them colluding with property owners to defraud the municipality out of millions of rand owed for rates and services.

About seven employees in the debtors unit have allegedly been implicated in the collusion.

Acting city manager Nelisiwe Ngcobo said the municipality had brought in workers from the finance unit to take over the work of the suspended staff following the allegations. Ngcobo is leading a campaign to recoup millions of rand owed to the municipality for rates and services.

The municipality is owed about R1.2 billion for rates and is looking to collect close to R200 million of this amount in the coming days. It is also looking to recover more than R500m owed for other services before the end of the week. Since last week, it has disconnected more than 20 properties including government departments.

“A forensic investigation has found that about seven employees in the debtors unit might have been colluding with property owners who did not want to pay the municipality the rates and services charges.

“We have placed these employees on suspension,” said Ngcobo.

Ngcobo said the municipality had been growing increasingly concerned about the ballooning debt, which prompted it to look into activities in the debtors unit.

She also revealed that it was not just the employees in the unit that were suspected of duplicity; some of their employees in the field tasked with managing the water and electricity infrastructure were suspected of connecting properties illegally.

It was suspected for instance that staff members in the electricity unit would disconnect a property and a rogue employee in the same unit would go back and illegally reconnect the property, supposedly for an illegal inducement.