Graft watchdog to guard Mpuma

2005-12-13 18:10

Sizwe samaYende

Nelspruit - Mpumalanga is establishing a full-time watchdog to monitor and clamp down on corruption in its municipalities.

The eight-member special interventions directorate will be based in the provincial local government and housing department.

It will pro-actively identify irregularities and provide remedies before any harm is done.

Almost all the province's three district municipalities and 18 local municipalities have been subjected to forensic investigations to unearth corruption.

Mpumalanga local government and housing spokesman Simphiwe Kunene said on Tuesday the directorate already had three members.

"It eventually will have eight members," Kunene said.

"It will be sent to municipalities to look at their performance in general and various issues like procurement policies and human resources."

A number of Mpumalanga municipalities have been under investigation in the past three years resulting in the dismissal of three mayors from the Lekwa and Delmas local municipalities and Gert Sibande district municipality.

Council coffers plundered

The mayors - Louis Thabethe, Juby Makhabane and Busi Mdluli - were implicated in misappropriation of taxpayer funds and are all facing criminal charges.

Two municipalities, Thaba Chweu in Lydenburg and Ehlanzeni district, are under caretaker administrators after corrupt officials and politicians plundered council coffers.

Government auditors from Premier Thabang Makwetla's office recently finished damning reports into Govan Mbeki municipality in Secunda and Lekwa.

Former local government and housing MEC Mohammed Bhabha spent R1.3m on private forensic auditors to investigate corruption in seven municipalities.

Those municipalities included Gert Sibande, Msukaligwa, Delmas, Lekwa, Thaba Chweu, Greater Tubatse in Burgersfort and Nkomazi in Malelane.

- African Eye