The eThekwini Municipal Accounts Committee(MPAC) committee chairperson Thami Xuma has called for the immediate tabling of the report that has unearthed the corruption rot in the City’s electricity unit.
Xuma said he has written to the City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CCIU) to check whether it has submitted the report to the City Manager.
He added that he has been shown the report, however, he was not allowed to discuss it in public until it has been tabled in the Executive Commitee.
“I have written to the CIIU to check where the report is now. People must be held accountable that is why I am pushing for it to be tabled so that action must be taken for those found to have committed crime,” said Xuma.
The report would blow the lid on how officials colluding with service providers at the City’s electricity unit stole electricity street lights which were found at the Mozambique border in 20223.
The lights were reported to have been stolen from the depot, however, it puzzled everyone how the stock went out without being recorded by the CCTV cameras.
The investigation was prompted by the shocking revelation by the whistleblower inside the electricity depot who wrote to the City officials alerting them that the senior officials were recording the stock as received whereas it was not delivered.
A source inside the CIIU said the report has recommended criminal charges for the senior officials at Supply Chain Management who were involved.
In the fresh allegations of corruption, the same whistleblower has named the City’s chief financial officer, Sandile Mnguni as the one behind manipulation of a multi-million rand smart meter boxes tender for kickbacks. The City is in the process of procuring 360 000 smart meter boxes.
In a thread of emails which the whistle blower sent to senior municipality officials he claimed that two very senior officials from the electricity unit, working with Mnguni have manipulated the tender bid to block the lowest bidders from getting the work and preferred the highest bidders who will pay them kickbacks.
“Dear Mr Mnguni, you were the individual who intervened and issued instructions to our department, Electricity officials to cancel a bid and then use the RT29 and manipulate it so it would be awarded to your preferred bidders. Submit yourself to a polygraph test and call all officials who you instructed to do the same. Officials are all aware of your deliberate intervention and interference in bids, and individuals within your staff have circulated what happens within your office and your preferred service providers,” said the whistle-blower in an email he sent to Mnguni.
Responding to the whistle-blower via email, Mnguni challenged him to provide evidence to the internal audit and also to City Integrity Investigations Unit (CIIU), however, the whistle-blower said it will be pointless for these claims to be investigated internally because they would be a cover up and witnesses would be exposed and victimised. He called for an external investigation.
In his written response, Mnguni denied the allegations, saying they were unfounded and misleading. He said the allegations have been referred to internal audit and also to the City investigation unit (CIIU).
The MPAC chairperson said the allegations against Mnguni must also be investigated and would liaise with the CIIU to check whether it has started the investigations or not as Mnguni challenged that the evidence of any wrong doing against him must be referred to the unit.