The Star
DA chief whip Sharon Chetty, who lodged the complaints, said the government had not taken seriously the Manase investigations findings on corruption in the municipality. Photo:SANDILE MAKHOBA
Durban – The DA has filed criminal complaints against five former eThekwini councillors and an official and called on the municipality to launch an internal investigation into four serving councillors it says have also been involved in the selling of RDP houses.
DA chief whip Sharon Chetty, who lodged the complaints, said the government had not taken seriously the Manase investigation’s findings on corruption in the municipality.
“It is appalling that the MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, the Speaker (Logie Naidoo) and the mayor (James Nxumalo), having had sight of the Manase report for more than a year now, have not insisted that action be taken against these councillors,” she said.
The DA’s caucus leader in the council, Zwakele Mncwango, said “not probing the alleged fraudulent councillors was a waste of taxpayers’ money as it meant the R15 million Manase audit was done to keep the report in a file”.
He said the four serving councillors had allegedly sold RDP houses for between R1 500 and R20 000.
Naidoo acknowledged he had received a letter from Mncwango calling on him to start ethics violation proceedings against the four.
Mncwango said the report had recorded that the Manase investigators handed the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) the information on the housing corruption, “but nothing has been done”.
“The DA met SIU manager Tony Govindsamy this week,” he said.
“He admitted the SIU took a strange step by sending the case to the national Human Settlements Department.”
The unit’s spokesman, Boy Ndala, confirmed the unit was not investigating.
“The SIU recommended that housing matters would best be dealt with internally through the national Department of Human Settlements’ anti-corruption capacity,” he said.
Lennox Mabaso, spokesman for the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, slammed the DA, saying: “They want police to do a duplicate job which is being done by the SIU. The issue of RDP corruption is dealt with by a presidential proclamation.”
The department said it needed time to check if the case was being dealt with.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Thulani Zwane said that Durban Central police were probing a case of fraud.
The Mercury
