The DA intends to launch a Promotion of Access to Information Act application if the eThekwini municipality fails to release the full Manase and Associates forensic report to the public.
The party also called for a full commission of inquiry to determine how much money had been spent to date to develop eThekwini’s revenue management system, which had gone “grossly over budget”.
Furthermore, DA eThekwini spokesperson Mbali Ntuli said the party would call for a notice of motion for an open tender process.
She said such a system would allow for the public to scrutinise the process of tender adjudications and awards.
DA caucus leader Tex Collins said yesterday that the party had for many years suggested that “all is not well in eThekwini”, and that they had been vindicated by the Manase and Associates forensic report, which highlighted fraud and corruption among certain municipal employees.
The report came as a result of a lengthy probe into allegations of fraud, corruption and maladministration in eThekwini instituted by Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube.
The probe zoomed in on the R532 million in irregular expenditure highlighted by Auditor-General Terence Nombembe for the municipal year ending June 2010, of which R428m related to the housing unit. It also followed an investigation by auditors Ngubane and Co, who made similar findings in 2010.
Flawed
The Manase investigation revealed that the municipality’s handling of the controversial revenue management system – which has cost the council R474m to date – was flawed, as it failed to adhere to its own supply-chain management processes.
The cost of developing the system had ballooned from an estimate of R90m to R150m at its inception in 2003 to R474m.
The report recommends further investigation, with powers to subpoena third-party individuals and documentation, to be carried out on the project, as the variations from the initial estimates had been done without complying with the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The report says “further significant costs are likely to be incurred by the municipality on this project”.
“But the city continues to blank out those things that are of concern to ratepayers. To date the Ngubane report has never seen the light of day,” Collins said.
He said former city manager Michael Sutcliffe had spoken “glowingly” about the city receiving an unqualified audit, yet it had incurred millions in irregular expenditure.
“Whatever is enclosed in the 700-page Manase report must be exposed. The taxpayers have paid for it. Up to now the focus has been on officials, but it is absolutely evident that the politicians need to be placed under the microscope,” he said.
The DA spokesman on co-operative governance and traditional affairs, George Mari, said there had been selective reporting on the matter. He would table a request before the provincial portfolio committee for Dube to release the full report.
