Cape Town - A staffer from the City’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been arrested in connection with alleged fraudulent overbilling for repairs and maintenance by a subcontractor.
City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said the employee handed himself over on Tuesday and would be appearing in court.
Tyhalibongo, said the matter would be dealt with in terms of the City’s labour relations policies and the relevant legislation.
This comes after an investigation by the Hawks into allegations of possible fraud within the City’s housing directorate. In March, the police raided the premises of the construction company alleged to be at the centre of corruption claims.
Anti-crime activist Hanif Loonat said the matter was before the courts and was linked to the case he opened with the police in August last year and which was being investigated by the Commercial Crime Unit.
Loonat confirmed that three people have been charged so far: Asif Khan, a director of The Construction Co (TCC); Paul Scheepers, a former crime intelligence officer and now a private investigator; and Reynold Talmakkies a former top police officer who now heads the City’s SIU.
“They have all received bail with strict restrictions as the case before the court is defeating the ends of justice,” Loonat said.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said besides the forensic investigation, the City’s internal audit also identified control gaps in the management of billing for the repairs and maintenance contract, initially awarded in 2017/18.
Hill-Lewis said the internal audit report further identified the need for better contract management practices in general.
He said the City has since created its own Engineering Services Unit, staffed with professionals who monitored all construction and maintenance work.
"Various internal directives and guidelines have tightened contract management controls, and there is now a fully-fledged Project and Portfolio Management Department," he said.
He said he would request a briefing from officials on the final forensic report into the specific maintenance contract, which was one of many previous term tender contracts used to cost and effect repairs to specific council rental units.
Hill-Lewis said in the last five years, over 40 000 affordable rental unit (CRU) tenants have benefited from R2 billion in maintenance and upgrades.
"The City has further transferred ownership of over 60 000 of its rental stock units to long-standing tenants to date, with around 7 700 units still available for sale and transfer to eligible tenants," he said.
He said an estimated 160 000 people currently benefited from an affordable rental unit operated by the City.
ANC caucus leader Xolani Sotashe said he was not surprised by the latest development within the City.
Sotashe said during their last council meeting they debated, among others, the annual report for the City. He pointed out to Hill-Lewis that he was "inheriting an administration that is rotten to the core".
He said he also pointed out that irregular and wasteful expenditure amounted to over a billion of rand.
"I said to the new mayor we need to get to the bottom of the wasteful expenditure because if you will have money of that kind of amount, there is corruption involved."
He said the City must not only investigate, the culprits must be brought to book, and if some of them were within the administration they must be processed and must get out of the administration.
Stop CoCT founder Sandra Dickson welcomed any investigation into procurement, awarding of tenders and the quality of work delivered to the City by contractors.
Dickson said the Stop COCT had been highlighting many issues over the past years which fell on deaf ears and many times the organisation was bluntly made out to be "negative" and "out of line".
She said now a single new mayor found a plethora of areas where the City administration has been failing.
"A huge amount of R2bn is mentioned by the City, designed to make the expenditure look huge while in reality not enough is budgeted to maintain its rental stock," she said.
GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron, said anyone who has visited the City's rental units, in any community where those community rental unit estates were, would be able to tell the mayor that there was no way the City actually spent R2 billion on upgrading 40 000 units.
Heron said the units, even the ones which got a lick of paint and some new plastic pipes and were now called "upgraded", were in a shocking condition.
"Hill-Lewis's assurance of co-operation should include a commitment that the City's leadership and management will not interfere in investigations, not withhold information and evidence and not pre-determine the outcome of an investigation – no matter whether it is a maintenance contractor or a DA councillor."
sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za