Ekurhuleni corruption 'will be rooted out'

2012-04-12 13:02

Johannesburg - The seizure of property and luxury cars from businessmen and Ekurhuleni employees was proof that corruption would be rooted out in the city, mayor Mondli Gungubele said on Thursday.

"There is no room for fraud and corruption in the city. There will be no stone left unturned in our efforts to spearhead good governance in the City of Ekurhuleni," Gungubele said.

On Wednesday, the Asset Forfeiture Unit confiscated the assets of businessman Velero David, the owner of Meropa Sechabeng Technology, Nilesh Singh, former executive director of the ICT department, and Andrew Mphushomadi, the former chief IT architect.

Mphushomadi and Singh had both worked for the city.

"The scourge of corruption is now a major crisis in government and many now believe that everything government does has corruption in it," said Gungubele.

Tender

The raid came as a result of a computer tender worth R32m which was awarded to Meropa in 2008, which the three men were all linked to. Gungubele said the city had taken a decision to work with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) as it had uncovered numerous internal fraudulent and corrupt transactions.

"At that time we knew that such an intervention was needed if we were serious about fighting crime and lawlessness within our workforce, and we are quite excited that the move is starting to pay off," he said.

The SIU was also assisting the municipality with regards to tender irregularities in various other departments.

This included the solid waste department, where various senior employees had already been suspended, he said.

David, Singh and Mphushomadi appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court on fraud and corruption charges last July.

Their case is scheduled to continue on July 2 this year.

- SAPA