The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has learnt that the Emfuleni Municipal Manager, Lucky Leseane is hampering the process of laying criminal charges, initiating disciplinary actions, and recovering monies from those implicated in Emfuleni’s irregular expenditure scandal.
According to a letter addressed to the Emfuleni Municipal Manager from Comperio Consulting, a service provider that was appointed on 15 November 2018 to conduct investigations into irregular expenditure in relation to specific Emfuleni contracts , it states that a lack of support from the Municipal Manager’s office is hampering the progress of the investigation.
The letter dated 29 July 2020 cites that a lack of support from the Municipal Manager’s office also has a negative effect on the criminal, disciplinary and recovery process.
The investigations were concluded, and the findings were reported to MPAC during November 2019.
The investigation findings revealed that Emfuleni incurred irregular expenditure totalling R670 595 793,74 due to contracts that have not been concluded in line with the conditions of Regulation 32; contracts that have not been extended following due process; contracts that have been transferred to separate legal entities and procurement processes that have been manipulated by altering the Bid Evaluation scores.
The investigations have also revealed that Emfuleni needs to recover an amount of R106 240 797,02 due to processing of duplicate payments, fraudulent transactions pertaining to the transfer of contracts and overcharging on agreed monthly fees.
Comperio Consulting is finding it difficult to continue with the disciplinary hearings, criminal processes, and recovery of monies without the Municipal Manager’s support.
The success of this investigation relies on the support from the Municipal Manager’s office.
If the Municipal Manager has nothing to hide, he should be cooperating with the investigation through assisting Comperio Consulting with all the necessary documentation required.
A lack of support and cooperation from the Municipal Manager will have a severe impact on the recovery process as the municipality only has three years to recover the monies of which only two years are left.
The DA calls on both the Gauteng Premier David Makhura and the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Lebogang Maile to urgently intervene in the matter to ensure that the Emfuleni Municipal Manager cooperates with the investigations and provides all the necessary support to Comperio Consulting.
We will not fold our hands and allow the Emfuleni Municipal Manger to hamper the process of recovering monies stolen from the residents of Emfuleni. If Premier Makhura is serious about fighting corruption in this province he must ensure that those implicated in Emfuleni’s irregular expenditure scandals are held to account.