Manase report: false statement brought to light

Trouble could be brewing for the eThekwini Municipality in the wake of revelations that a senior official implicated in the corruption-busting Manase report was still employed by the city, despite a parliamentary submission stating the opposite. Incensed by the alleged “false information” given by the municipality, DA MP and former eThekwini councillor Dean Macpherson has written to Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Pravin Gordhan seeking clarity. The Mercury reported on Wednesday that former information technology head Jacqui Subban continued to draw a salary from the municipality, despite the scathing findings in the report against her. However, Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko, in a parliamentary response last month, told the National Assembly that Subban was no longer employed by the city.

The Manase report in 2013 found that Subban had irregularly awarded two section 36 contracts to H2O Networks (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd for the installation of fibre-optic cables. It recommended that disciplinary action be taken against her for this reason, and also for negligence that resulted in duplicate payments of R2.6 million being made to Dimension Data on September 2 and 10, 2008. In the letter, Macpherson says: “I wish to bring to your attention the alleged false information provided by the eThekwini Municipality, with Mr S’bu Sithole as its city manager, to parliamentary replies … to questions I posed to the administration relating to the Manase report, which I have attached for your reading.” “An answer, ‘Ms Subban has subsequently resigned and therefore no disciplinary steps were taken. There was no prejudice to the municipality, and this matter was filed on 2014-05-15’, was provided to the police minster, which is, in fact, incorrect.

“Ms Subban is still in the employment of the municipality,” Macpherson writes. He tells Gordhan that the alleged misrepresentation “raises very serious problems for the municipality, as no disciplinary steps were taken against Ms Subban due to her apparently resigning”. He added that the police’s parliamentary response to his question also stated that the Anti-Corruption Task Team was unable to proceed with cases as the city manager had not provided annexures relating to certain enquiries. “Interestingly, there seems to have been an extraordinary amount of fires that destroyed documents at Metro File, the municipality’s filing department, and Ngubane & Co. I am hesitant to assume this is a coincidence,” the letter reads. “From the above, it is quite clear that all manner of tactics have been used to frustrate and, in cases, possibly destroy evidence to protect the accused in the Manase Report.”

In the letter, Macpherson requests “an investigation into the alleged misrepresentation of the truth to Parliament regarding the Ms Subban matter by eThekwini Municipality”. Added to this would be a probe into the “delay in handing over of documents to the (Anti-Corruption Task Team)”. The letter continues: “I trust that you will meet my request with favour.” This week Sithole suggested when speaking to The Mercury that Subban had been absolved by an internal disciplinary hearing. He also said Subban had never left the municipality. The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs did not respond on Wednesday to The Mercury’s request for comment.