ADVERTISEMENT:

 

 
 

Generic image

More heads to roll in payment scandal?

Date: 28 September 2015 By: Andries van Zyl

It looks like more heads are on the chopping block at the Makhado Municipality with regard to the findings of an independent company’s investigation into suspicious tender payments.

The scandal unfolded in January this year when the Zoutpansberger managed to obtain a copy of the company’s preliminary report into the matter.

The investigation followed allegations of corruption regarding the procurement process of tenders and the alleged forging of signatures by junior officials to make payments to tenderers without their actually rendering the services they had tendered for. Municipal Manager Mr Sakkie Mutshinyali was made aware of these allegations in the middle of last year and he appointed Tripple Hawks Auditors & Forensic Audit, a private company from Polokwane, to investigate. Their main focus was to investigate several suspicious payments made to five respective companies. The five companies mentioned in the report are Shumani Phatheni General Dealer, Abnar Trading, LI Mel Trading, Athikundwi Trading & Projects and Rurhoo PTY LTD.

Tripple Hawks released its preliminary findings into the matter in December of last year. Following their recommendations, the municipality opted to suspend their manager (expenditure) in the finance department, Mr M V Mandobe.

The report makes it very clear, however, that these suspicious transactions were conducted with the assistance of internal staff members of the municipality. “The involvement of the internal staff is also supported by the fact that crucial information directly linked with the allegations was also stolen at the municipal offices, since mayhem of this kind of corruption prevailed in the corridors of the institution buildings, making speculations rife that there is internal involvement and trading of inside information,” the report states.

Since the suspension of Mandobe, the Zoutpansberger followed up on the investigation on numerous occasions and asked whether further suspensions might follow as per the report’s recommendations, as well as how much money had been involved in the “suspicious” payment scandal.

On 30 June this year, municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi indicated that two other officials were due to appear before a disciplinary hearing, but he did not say when this would take place or who the persons were. He also remained silent when asked what amount of money had been involved.

Last week, however, the Zoutpansberger was able to obtain a copy of a “second” investigative report into the matter. This prompted the newspaper to follow up on the investigation once again, almost a year after Tripple Hawks was appointed.

The report is very blunt in its recommendations. It states that the municipality’s internal audit department should review its internal control measures within the supply-chain-management section with relation to the report’s findings. It also states that the municipality should embark on a litigation process to recover the monies paid to the five mentioned companies.

Two names that also popped up in the report are those of Mr Johnson Lukheli and Ms Johanna Tlou. In both cases the municipality is urged to institute disciplinary action against them with regard to Tripple Hawk’s findings. The report does not state which departments the two work for and concludes by stating that “A comprehensive investigation [should] be conducted on other payment batches as this practice might have been used in different areas and programmes and to allow other role players to be identified as we believe this was conducted through a syndicate with a number of officials involved.”

Armed with this new information, as well as a copy of a notice to Lukheli that he should attend a disciplinary hearing on Friday, the Zoutpansberger once again asked Bobodi to respond regarding the progress of their investigation.

Bobodi confirmed on Tuesday that Lukheli’s disciplinary hearing had in fact taken place on Friday, but that they were unable to continue because of the “non-availability of the employer’s representative.” He added that the hearing was re-scheduled to 2 October.

As for Tlou, Bobodi indicated that she had in fact already appeared for a disciplinary hearing on three occasions, namely on 22 May, 9 June and 2 July, but that the municipality was “waiting for judgement from the chairperson.”

Regarding the positions Lukheli and Tlou hold at the municipality, Bobodi indicated that Lukheli is the manager: council affairs and Tlou is a clerk for the direct payment of accounts. He confirmed that the disciplinary hearings against both directly relate to the Tripple Hawks investigation.

Bobodi was also asked how the municipality planned to recover the monies paid over to the five companies. In response, he said: “The municipality still have to evaluate the outcome of the DC [Disciplinary Hearings] and the decision that will be taken by the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] and the economic benefit for filing civil litigation against the five companies.” The total amount to be repaid, Bobodi finally confirmed, is R707 160.

 
 
 

Viewed: 985

 

 
 

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.

 
 

More photos... 

ADVERTISEMENT

 
 

ADVERTISEMENT:

 
 

ADVERTISEMENT