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Parties call for eThekwini officials accused of graft to be removed

Opposition parties in eThekwini Municipality are calling for the removal of city officials implicated in, and charged for, corrupt activities until their names are cleared by the courts of law.

This follows Friday’s arrest and inclusion of new corruption charges against Sandile Ngcobo, the city’s deputy head of supply chain management. Ngcobo, his wife, Vuyiswa, and three businessmen - Freedom Blose, Hlenga Sibisi and Mzwandile Dludla - were arrested and appeared before the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Friday, on charges of corruption.

The arrest was part of investigations into alleged fraud in the R380 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender. The IFP’s Mdu Nkosi said the arrests were not surprising and more officials should be investigated. Nkosi asked why officials whose signatures had approved the corrupt tenders were not arrested. “We believe there are many more people at the municipality and outside who are implicated in this DSW tender. You cannot have clean governance if you have corrupt officials working for you.”

Nkosi said people in various parts of eThekwini were still battling with rubbish collection as the service had been disrupted since the start of the DSW tender fraud allegations in 2016. Nkosi said the tender included refuse removal. Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said Ngcobo was alleged to have conspired with service providers in 2017 and received benefits in the form of a R1-million vehicle which was reportedly bought for his wife. A total of R600 000 was paid in cash from two of the suspects’ companies’ accounts.

The settlement amount was in the form of another luxury vehicle being traded to cover the costs. It is alleged the purchasing of the Jaguar was a payment in exchange for Ngcobo awarding tenders to the businessmen. The five were granted R10 000 bail each and are back in court again on February 25. Ngcobo is facing other fraud and corruption charges, alongside former mayor Zandile Gumede, in relation to the same DSW tender investigation.

Nicole Graham, DA caucus leader in eThekwini, said: “There are two issues here. The first is that Ngcobo was suspended by the municipality and that was later overturned in court. We can’t have people who’ve been accused of such serious crimes still working for the municipality and that needs to be sorted out as soon as possible. The second issue is that there have to be lifestyle audits that start with politicians. I think it’s time that mayor (Mxolisi) Kaunda explains what the relationship between his team and former mayor Gumede is.”

Source: www.iol.co.za

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Parties call for eThekwini officials accused of graft to be removed

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