The DA Mopani East Constituency welcomes the arrest by the Hawks’ Phalaborwa-based Serious Corruption Investigation team of a 58-year-old senior official currently employed in the Maruleng Municipality on charges of alleged fraud and corruption.
According to the Hawks, the suspect — who at the time (July 2015) was employed as Acting Municipal Manager of the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality — took a decision to appoint a company to assist with the restoration of a major power outage. This appointment was made without any due process being followed.
A few days later, the appointed company allegedly submitted multiple claims without having rendered any services. All these claims were processed and paid, resulting in a loss of over R770 000 to the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality.
We find it deeply disingenuous that the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality, in a media statement issued last night, sought to distance itself from the matter by stressing that “no official from the municipality has been arrested” — while conveniently omitting the fact that the crime was allegedly committed against the municipality by its own Acting Municipal Manager at the time.
This is yet another example of how organs of state under ANC control twist the truth, and hide the crime, offering spin instead of transparency and accountability – and basic honesty.
Equally concerning is the ANC’s well-worn policy of redeploying cadres implicated in gross misconduct to other entities, thereby perpetuating a cycle of corruption, malfeasance and ineptitude. This practice erodes public trust, weakens institutions, and makes a mockery of good governance.
This is not how a capable, ethical and functional state is built.
We welcome that the Hawks’ advise that further arrests are imminent.
We encourage the Hawks to complete their other investigations into corruption at the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality – including the case involving then Municipal Manager Ntshavheni who is now a Minister in the Presidency.
The DA will continue to demand accountability, transparency and consequence management. Delivery and development start with good, corrupt-free governance