At a media briefing today,the Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Municipality said the Council yesterday had approved the the municipality’s responses to questions raised by Local Government and Traditional Affairs member of the executive council (MEC), Mlibo Qoboshiyana on the findings of the Kabuso Forensic Report.
It was confirmed during the briefing that the Acting Municipal Manager had already reported the allegations of corruption, mismanagement, and fraud raised therein to law enforcement agencies as per council resolution and as required by law. “It is important for the public and the media to note that the individuals implicated of wrongdoing in the forensic report remain innocent until proven otherwise,” said Mayor Wayile.
The full speech of the Executive Mayor, Cllr. Zanoxolo Wayile is below:
A full meeting of Council was held in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality yesterday. In this meeting, we as public representatives approved a bold process plan to respond to the findings of the Kabuso Forensic Investigation and address the administrative weaknesses identified therein.
This milestone follows the official handover of the full report by the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, to the Speaker of Council in September this year. Since then, there has been a lot of work behind the scenes to apply our minds and get the necessary guidance and legal advise as to how best we could respond to the allegations of corruption and misconduct raised in the Kabuso report.
As per the Council resolutions, today the Acting Municipal Manager, Themba Hani, officially handed over the Kabuso Forensic Investigation report and municipal responses to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, popularly known as the Hawks, for further investigation.
It is important for the public and the media to note that the individuals implicated of wrongdoing in the forensic report remain innocent until proven otherwise.
The Council also approved an action plan to turn around the administrative arm of the institution to address the internal weaknesses and enhance good governance and prudent financial management.
The plan, which is part of the support we are getting from the Provincial Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs under Section 154 of the Constitution, has got short, medium and long-term outcomes.
Among other things, the plan consists of the following:
- to assist in the organisational review and business process re-engineering,
- to review the Supply Chain Management Policy to combat acts of fraud, corruption, favouritism, unfair or irregular practices or failure to comply with the policy. This exercise should be the final death knell to acts of corruption and ill-discipline whether coming from inside or outside of our institution;
- to take a closer look at the Performance Management System of the municipality to ensure compliance to standards and improve service delivery;
- to monitor the implementation of the Financial Recovery Plan as developed in consultation with the National and Provincial Treasury.
- to ensure the development of an intervention programme on job creation and poverty alleviation. This includes submitting an application for funding from the Jobs Fund from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
We believe that this plan will help improve professionalism and enhance ethical conduct of our employees and strengthen public confidence on our capacity to deliver quality services.
Notwithstanding the fact that, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is facing serious challenges from within and outside, we preside over a relatively sound and stable institution. It is a going concern with regard to assets, liabilities and our ability to meet our financial obligations.
We call upon our staff members, social partners and the public at large to work with us to ensure that municipal resources are used within the prescripts of the law to create better communities. We encourage our people to report all acts of financial misconduct to 080020 43 43.
I wish to emphasise that the actions we are taking today do not just comply with legislation but are also in line with the ruling party’s commitment to clean governance and accountability as per the priority focus areas of the government and our election manifesto during the recent local government elections.
The time has come for us as ANC deployees to show character and leadership in defence of our future and that of the generations to come.
“Working together we can do more.”
Thank you
Zanoxolo Wayile
