Durban — Two senior managers in the KwaDukuza Municipality have been accused of syphoning close to R100 million from the municipality using Regulation 36 of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 (MFMA), which regulates deviations to illegally award contracts.
The damning allegations against KwaDukuza municipal manager Nhlanhla Mdakane and Economic Development, Planning and Human Settlements executive director Sikhumbuzo Hlongwane are contained in a memorandum that was submitted after a protest march to the municipality on Thursday.
It is alleged that Mdakane bypassed chief financial officer Shamir Rajcoomar and awarded R30m to repair bridges that were damaged by storms in 2019 and 2020.
A report compiled by a whistle-blower questioned the awarding of these contracts behind the chief financial officer’s (CFO’s) back, adding that when the CFO refused to approve payments she was victimised and subsequently suspended on “cooked charges” of financial mismanagement.
According to the whistle-blower’s report, which was seen by the Daily News, the policy dictates that before the municipalities use Regulation 36 to award contracts, the CFO must be informed and approve the bona fides of the appointment, which did not happen.
“The CFO only came to know about the appointments when she was requested to approve payments, but she refused on the basis that she would be held accountable when the auditor-general picks up the expenditure. The funds used became wasteful expenditure, but till today no one has been held accountable.”
The report further revealed that the contract was awarded to repair one of the bridges, but when the finance committee visited the sites it found that there was no damage to the bridge, but only the road leading to the bridge. The report added that the quote far exceeded the construction cost of a new bridge.
In another activity, Madakane and Hlongwane are also accused of having embezzled more than R60m in funds that were for the Rocky Park Housing scheme, which has been stalled since 2019.
The whistle-blower’s report revealed that the project was abandoned because funds had gone missing. It said that as a result of this, the Human Settlements unit was moved from Hlongwane and placed under Civil Engineering, which happened during the late mayor Ricardo Mthembu’s time. However, the unit has recently been returned to Hlongwane without having been cleared.
These incidents sparked anger from the civil society groups, which together with political parties, including the ANC, marched to the municipality offices to hand over a memorandum demanding the reinstatement of the CFO. The marchers also called for an independent investigation into the allegations against Mdakane and Hlongwane.
One of the marchers, who asked not to be named since he was a member of the ANC, said branches were angry about the victimisation of the CFO by Mdakane and Hlongwane.
“We are not trying to be tribalistic or regionalists, but we suspect these two don’t have the interests of the people of the region at heart. We have also noted that many contracts are being awarded to companies outside our region, and one of them brought a 52-year-old to be a personal assistant, sidelining locals. There is no skill for that job that you can bring a person from outside to do it, that’s why we say these two don’t have the interests of the people of KwaDukuza at heart.”
ANC regional secretary Siphesihle Zulu said that after the march the ANC officials and the municipality leadership met to discuss the allegations.
Zulu added that the ANC asked the municipality to quickly establish a rapid response team to listen to the concerns. He said the municipality would also investigate the allegations.
Both Mdakane and Hlongwane referred questions to the municipality’s spokesperson, Siphe Ngobese, who has yet to respond.
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Daily News