Another scandal?

Date: 30 January 2015 By: Andries van Zyl

Yet another corruption scandal, apparently involving several top officials, is unfolding at the Makhado Municipality.

Since the beginning of the year, rumours have been rife that several senior municipal officials had been suspended, following allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption. Confirming these rumours, however, proved difficult as officials remained extremely tight-lipped about the issue.

The situation escalated last week, with rumours that the municipal manager, Mr Sakkie Mutshinyali, had also been suspended, following an executive committee (EXCO) meeting of Council last Thursday. Apparently, Mutshinyali was suspended because of the way in which he as accounting officer had handled the investigation process regarding the allegations of corruption in, among others, the municipality’s finance department.

Municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi was, however, quick to respond on Monday by categorically stating that there was no truth in the rumours that Mutshinyali had been suspended. “He is in his office and at work,” Bobodi said. He added that nothing regarding the “suspension” of Mutshinyali was discussed during last week’s EXCO meeting. “I don’t know where these rumours are coming from,” Bobodi said.

Prior to Bobodi's refuting rumours that Mutshinyali had been suspended, theZoutpansberger asked Bobodi on 23 January to confirm the validity of the rumours about the suspension of other top municipal officials in December last year. This after increasing pressure from all quarters, asking the municipality to act in a transparent manner regarding the suspension issue. “The Congress of the People (COPE) in Vhembe is disappointed and saddened by the way in which the senior officials and the senior politicians from the ruling party are handling the matter of the suspended officials. It has come to the attention of COPE that Makhado Municipality have suspended some officials on allegations of fraud and the looting of funds from the municipal purse. As COPE, we believe that the municipality belongs to all and that all the good issues, as well as the bad issues, that happen in the municipality are of public interest. The municipal management seems to be very quiet on the matter,” reads a statement received from COPE’s regional chairman, Cllr Geoffrey Tshibvumo.

Tshibvumo said that voters had the right to be informed as to what had caused the municipal management to suspend officials and what the allegations were that had been levelled against them. “Reliable sources have told COPE that the alleged looting of the public purse amounts to not less than R4 million. This is quite a big issue …  The community and all the voters at large deserve to know,” Tshibvumo said.

Once again Bobodi was quick to respond, with the newspaper receiving answers to their media enquiry regarding the suspension of senior municipal officials within half an hour of submitting the question on Friday.

Despite rumours that several municipal officials had been suspended, Bobodi confirmed the suspension of only one senior official. “He is from the department of finance and I am not at liberty to divulge his name at this stage as the matter is still sub judice,” Bobodi said, adding that the suspension related to charges of the mismanagement of public funds. TheZoutpansberger has it on good authority that the person holds a very senior position in this department, dealing with municipal expenditure.

Bobodi was unable to give an estimate of the amount of money involved relating to the allegations of mismanagement of funds. “Investigations are still going on to determine the exact amount,” Bobodi said. He confirmed that the official involved was suspended with full pay around mid-December last year.

The Zoutpansberger has learned, however, that there is a lot more to the story than meets the eye. According to information available to the newspaper, the preliminary investigation into the allegations of financial mismanagement and fraudulent dealings is sure to open up the proverbial “can of worms” even further, with the possibility of other senior officials' being suspended not being ruled out.  The investigation apparently centres around the procurement process of tenders, the forging of signatures and payments being made to tenderers without their actually rendering the services they had tendered for.

“The investigation comes as no surprise to us. For many years now we have been calling on the authorities to investigate issues surrounding the municipality’s procurement process,” was the only response received by the DA’s Cllr Brain du Plooy.

In the meantime, it is expected that the allegations of financial mismanagement, the suspension of the officials and the current investigation into the process will be a hot topic of discussion when these serve before Council during a special council meeting scheduled for 29 January.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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