13 councillors face graft raps

2006-01-10 16:25

Sizwe samaYende

Lydenburg - Mpumalanga local government MEC Jabu Mahlangu is expected to decide the fate of 13 politicians implicated in corruption at Thaba Chweu municipality at the end of January.

The African National Congress councillors have been investigated by a special committee, which has compiled a report and submitted recommendations to Mahlangu.

The councillors make up more than half of the Lydenburg-based council, which has 23 councillors.

They are implicated in wide-scale corruption that brought Thaba Chweu to the brink of financial collapse.

Mahlangu was forced to appoint Grace Castle as a caretaker administrator at the beginning of last year.

Castle said on Tuesday the politicians were likely to be charged for abusing their cellphones and other council properties, and misconduct in breach of the councillors code of conduct.

R702 spent on sex chatline

"The report is already with the MEC and he will decide what to do with the councillors."

Castle said Mahlangu probably would pronounce on the issue at the end of January.

Thaba Chweu speaker Mandla Mabelane is among the councillors. It is claimed he used a council phone to call a KwaZulu-Natal sex chatline in July 2004, running up a R702 bill.

Six employees already have faced disciplinary committees and been suspended on various corruption charges.

Former finance director Eben Theron was fired in June last year after defying the council and giving himself irregular loans amounting to R120 000.

The full amount was recouped from his final payout.

Castle said a forensic audit investigation at the municipality's finance section was underway, and it was estimated that employees could have been stealing at least R100 000 a month.

Since Castle took the reigns, Thaba Chweu has recouped close to R1m from rates and service defaulters, including residents, businesses and government departments.

- African Eye