Forensic audit shows Nongoma was run by a corrupt ‘mafia-style’ NFP elite
The Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal can today reveal that the National Freedom Party (NFP) drove the Nongoma Municipality into the ground through the use of a corrupt mafia-style elite.
The proof is contained within the summary of a forensic audit into alleged irregularities within the municipality including wide-scale corruption, fraud and maladministration. A copy of the report was recently given to the DA.
According to the report, the audit was finalised on 5 December 2016. In January KZN COGTA MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, sent the document to the municipal Speaker with the instruction that she receive a response within 21 days. The DA is not aware of any response to date.
The forensic report investigates 21 different allegations with some damning findings. These include:
• MANCO’s alleged authorisation of a ‘municipal account’ at a local store, where senior NFP municipal officials ran up a bill of R150 000 on items such as cooking oil, apples, baked beans and chakalaka. This was done in contravention of Supply Chain Management procedure. In one instance the report states that purchases on this account were listed as an ‘emergency’; and
• The alleged abuse of municipal funds with a staggering R90 000 spent on the purchase of 1 000 ‘party t-shirts’ for the Indigenous Games held in Nongoma
Particularly shocking is that Auditors could not properly conclude their investigations as the municipality failed to keep proper financial and supply chain records. This has severely compromised the team’s ability to reach any final outcome. Without these deliberations, the report recommends that R6.9 million be recovered.
While the DA welcomes the release of the forensic audit, it comes very late for the people of Nongoma, whose municipality has been left in ruins. We condemn the NFP leadership for adopting ANC-style tactics to govern this municipality. Had they shown strong ethical leadership instead, this whole situation could have been avoided.
A closer look at the report reveals that the core problem lies with the appointment of directors and senior managers without the relevant skills and expertise. In fact the report states “at the time the current Directors were appointed they did not satisfy either the educational requirements or the management experience or in one case both.” This is quite simply a case of the NFP breaking the law.
The audit also names several serial offenders with almost all of the charges relating to basic duties in terms of Section 62 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). In some instances, top officials are named after approving payments resulting in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The report has recommended that they be disciplined.
The DA calls on the newly appointed IFP leadership to act on this and other recommendations. Particularly important is the action against members of the shortlisting and interview panel for negligence in allowing individuals to be shortlisted, interviewed and eventually appointed to positions for which they did not satisfy the requirements.
While the clean-up of Nongoma municipality is going to be messy, it is also a very important process if the abuse of power is to be stopped within this and other KZN municipalities.
Statement issued by Hlanganani Gumbi MPL, DA KZN Spokesperson on COGTA, 25 June 2017
