Cape Town - Theewaterskloof mayor Kallie Papier (Patriotic Alliance) has responded to a letter from Local Government MEC Anton Bredell regarding an investigation into allegations of possible maladministration, fraud, corruption and other serious malpractices at the municipality.
Last month, Bredell wrote to the municipality giving officials there a deadline to respond to a letter in which he informed them that he was in possession of damaging information and giving them a chance to respond.
The allegations against the municipality in Bredell’s letter were about the payment of acting allowances to municipal communications manager Hugo Geldenhuys, the irregular appointment of nine people, the suspension of deputy director of finance Francois van der Westhuizen, as well as that of supply chain management manager Ashley Hendricks.
Papier took issue with the leaking of Bredell’s letter on social media platforms and said it was a concern as it created distrust between the municipality and the Department of Local Government.
“As I respect the processes and rights of the municipality and its employees, I will not comment on the recent suspensions of staff members.”
He said it was a difficult, even traumatic, decision to suspend the nine officials as the issues behind their suspension primarily stemmed from matters arising in the previous term of government.
He said the suspension and a lack of staff capacities in key areas forced the administration to employ experts on an emergency basis.
On Wednesday, Bredell’s spokesperson Wouter Kriel said Bredell had originally written to the municipality to ask for their comments and documentation in response to the allegations he received.
“The MEC received a reply from the municipality but intends addressing further correspondence to it in this regard.”
Kriel said Bredell would then assess whether there was any reason to believe that the municipality could not or would not fulfil its statutory obligations.
He would look into whether maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice occurred or was occurring in the municipality.
“After this he will determine whether and to what extent further steps need to be taken to initiate a forensic investigation into the allegations in question,” Kriel said.