The eThekwini municipality has established a multiparty ethics committee to crack the whip on councillors who flout the law.
This comes amidst a public outcry in the wake of the forensic investigation by auditors Manase and Associates which revealed that 10 councillors were doing business with the municipality in contravention of their code of conduct.
The report of the probe into the financial affairs of the city, instituted by Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube, was released last week. It uncovered irregular expenditure in the housing department totalling R428 million and made damning findings against senior officials and politicians.
Among them was former mayor Obed Mlaba. Former municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe was criticised for not reporting fraud and corruption timeously and not taking reasonable steps to curtail irregular expenditure.
However, the names of the 10 councillors have not been released yet, apparently because senior ANC officials have been accused of benefiting from municipal tenders amounting to millions.
The council was given 21 days to report back to Dube and thereafter institute disciplinary proceedings against all officials and councillors implicated in the report.
DA councillor Dean Macpherson said the committee’s first item would be to consider a report adopted by the full council last year. This followed Auditor-General Terence Nombembe’s 2009/10 financial year report. It detailed six councillors accused of doing business with the municipality: Colin Gaillard, Jean Lindsay, Mbongeni Cele, Senzangakhona Shange and Nondumiso Cele, who serves on the executive committee, and ANC chief whip Stanley Xulu.
The case involving Gaillard and Lindsay was closed because it was found that they did not benefit from the companies they were linked to.
Mbongeni Cele’s case was closed because he was not re-elected as a councillor in May 2011.
The council recommended a “special committee” be formed to deal with the allegations against Shange, Nondumiso Cele and Xulu.
Speaker Logie Naidoo said the council had decided that the matter should be addressed by the ethics committee.
Tabled
“The council has not finalised what the ethics committee’s powers and functions will be, but the committee was formed to deal specifically with those councillors named in the auditor-general’s report, not the councillors named in the Manase report,” he said.
Naidoo said the report would be tabled at the executive committee meeting today and then the council would decide whether to charge the 10 councillors named in the report or recommend that the ethics committee deal with the matter.
Macpherson said his party believed that the newly formed ethics committee should be chaired by a member of an opposition party which would allow the committee to be beyond reproach in its findings against councillors.
However, the ANC disagreed and nominated councillor William Mapena. The move was supported by Minority Front councillor Solly Singh.
The Minority Front’s Davanand Singh said the committee had drafted a policy document yesterday which would be scrutinised by the city’s legal department.
Lilian Develing, of the Combined Ratepayers’ Association, said ratepayers were relieved that the council was addressing the issues raised in the Manase report, but hoped that the committee would be objective and take action against errant councillors.
The Mercury was unable to reach Mapena for comment.
The ethics committee chairman is William Mapena (ANC). Committee members are: Dean Macpherson (DA), Makhosazana Magwaza (ANC), Lindiwe Mhlongo-Ntaka (ANC), Zwakele Mncwango (DA), Bongiwe Mtshali (NFP), Velelisa Qulo (ANC), Davanand Singh (MF) and Samukelisiwe Sishange (ANC).
