Four in court for fraud

2009-07-04 10:01

Johannesburg - Four men appeared before the Mthatha Magistrate's Court on Friday for allegedly defrauding the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality of more than R360 000, the Eastern Cape local government department said.

Spokesperson Pinky Bata said the bail application of Vela Gwadiso, Vuyani Gwebindlala, Yondela Conjwa and Unathi Luswazi was denied and they would appear again on Wednesday.

Gwadiso and Gwebindlala were arrested on Thursday and Conjwa and Luswazi on Friday for allegedly defrauding the municipality of R360 851 allocated for electrical material to improve electrical infrastructure.

A forensic investigation was started in December 2008 to follow-up reports that there were fraudulent activities in the processing and awarding of tenders within the municipality.

The tenders were awarded to two companies, Vuyani Spiders (R168 491) and Conjwa Trading Enterprise (R192 360).

The payment for Vuyani Spiders was paid through his trust account and Conjwa Trading was paid directly into the company's account.

Payment was allegedly authorised by Gwadiso who was General Manager: Infrastructure acting in the capacity of Director: Infrastructure.

This was despite the services not being rendered to the municipality, Bata said.

KSD municipality Mayor, Siyakholwa Mlamli, said the municipality would leave no stone unturned to promote clean governance.

The municipality was determined to achieve visible and tangible socio-economic development for the benefit of the people of KSD.

He warned that he would deal decisively with corruption at KSD, both at the administrative and political levels, municipal spokesperson Sonwabo Mampoza said.

MEC for the department, Sicelo Gqobana, said: "We are committed to support municipalities to root out fraud and corruption which negatively impacts on the delivery of services to the people."

These arrests followed the recent visit by the MEC to KSD as part of the department's programme of supporting municipalities.

As part of rolling out the anti-corruption strategy, launched in 2006, the department would conduct ethics management training for councillors, municipal managers and section 57 managers.

The Department would work closely with the Special Investigating Unit to strengthen its endeavours in combating corruption at municipalities.

This would contribute to the recovery of monies owed to municipalities that had been fraudulently misappropriated.

An amount of R3m had been set aside to service this partnership agreement during the 2009/10 financial year.

Further, the department would forge partnerships with the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary in an effort to fast-track investigations and cases relating to fraud and corruption within KSD and other municipalities in the province.

Communities were also encouraged to ensure that all forms of corruption and corrupt activities were brought forward to the attention of the department and municipalities, Gqobana said.

- SAPA