The eThekwini Municipality’s Financial Misconduct Board has summoned high-ranking City officials to appear before the board and explain their failure to act against employees who have been found to have committed wrongdoing.
The board is concerned that despite investigations being conducted and recommendations made that certain officials should be sanctioned for wrongdoing, these recommendations are not implemented by the City officials in leadership positions.
There have been several cases where City investigators have investigated and found wrongdoing, but it’s not clear what consequence management was taken thereafter.
The acts of misconduct include an investigation into the allegation that the municipality paid companies R500 million to install light bulbs in street lights when the supplies had allegedly been procured from municipal stores.
It was not immediately clear whether any action was taken against those involved in this contract.
The chairperson of the board, advocate Makhosini Nkosi, expressed the board’s frustration with the lack of action taken by City officials, stating, “We just want to ask them what is their problem.”
Nkosi was speaking at a fraud prevention seminar hosted at the Durban ICC on Thursday. “You will have the City Investigations and Integrity Unit (CIIU) conduct an investigation, but you find that senior officials are not taking action on the recommendations made. It could be that they are afraid, but we have invited them to come to our next meeting to tell us what their problem is.”
During the seminar, Nkosi highlighted the impact and levels of corruption, distinguishing between chaotic and systematic corruption.
He explained that systematic corruption occurs at high levels, where individuals believe that paying a bribe to, for example, the municipal manager or chief financial officer, will yield results.
“We must break that corruption and send people to prison for a long time.”
ActionSA councillor Zwakele Mncwango said the problem with the CIIU investigations went much deeper than what the board was raising.
“The first problem is the location of units like the CIIU; they should not be under a municipality. They should be at provincial level to avoid any conflict of interest in the municipalities they are investigating.
“Right now, the situation is that they are investigating their bosses.
“I have also engaged with many CIIU officials, and they tell me that once they have completed the investigations, nothing ever happens. The board should call for transparency in these processes because if the reports are kept confidential, nothing happens.”
As an example, he mentioned that senior managers in the City were implicated in using council funds to pay for the ANC Women’s League conference that was held at the ICC. Despite an investigation being done, nothing came of it.
Addressing the gathering, eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba called on the public to collaborate with the City to root out corruption.
“As the leadership of eThekwini Municipality, we are committed to building a capable, honest, and transparent administration. Therefore, we call upon all our social partners – business, organised labour, and the community – to work with us to root out fraud and corruption in the municipality and ensure that we deliver quality services to residents.”
Xaba emphasised that corruption is tantamount to stealing from the poor and has detrimental effects on the economy and society. It also erodes public trust in government institutions.
“To effectively fight the scourge of corruption, we must ensure ethical leadership in both the public and private sectors. Our collective effort to combat corruption is often hindered by unscrupulous businesspeople and public servants.”
The mayor outlined several interventions needed to build a corruption-free City, including regular lifestyle audits on public servants in strategic positions, preventing municipal or state employees from doing business with the City and strengthening the CIIU to operate without fear or favour.
“We have taken firm action to deal with corruption in the City, and I assure the public that we will not stop acting whenever fraud and corruption show their ugly heads,” Xaba said.
Dr Sandile Mnguni, the municipality’s chief financial officer, said the municipality faced complex challenges such as procurement fraud, bribery, and maladministration, which can compromise service delivery and inflate costs.
“We are committed to strengthening our efforts across all areas. We will continue to enhance the efficiency of the Financial Misconduct and Disciplinary Board, increase the capacity of the City Integrity and Investigations Unit, and enforce rigorous procurement policies.
“We are also establishing secure, anonymous reporting channels and ensuring strong protections for whistle-blowers. In the future, technology will play an essential role in this effort.
“By integrating AI-driven data analytics, automated monitoring, and enhanced controls, we will be better positioned to detect unusual patterns and flag suspicious transactions in real time,” Mnguni said.