By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@SIU.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed the arrest of a former municipal manager at the Moretele Municipality in North West over an irregular R215 million IT tender.
Theletsi Roger Nkhumise was arrested on Friday and appeared at Moretele Regional Court on the same day.
The former municipal boss faces charges of contravening the municipal Finance Management Act and the irregular awarding of a multi-million Rand IT tender.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the corruption busting unit investigated the tender following a proclamation by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Kganyago added that the R215 million was inherited by the Moretele Municipality from the Madibeng Local Municipality.
“The arrest of Nkhumise follows an investigation conducted by the SIU, which revealed that the [Moretele] municipality increased the scope of work with two addendums to the original contract without following processes governing municipal procurement of goods and services.
“Furthermore, the SIU investigation revealed that the price from that of the original contract between Madibeng Municipality and Flame IT are definitely not in sync with the pricing between Moretele Municipality and Flame IT. Madibeng paid Flame IT approximately R64 million for a similar service, “Kganyago said.
The SIU had referred evidence of criminal activity to the National Prosecuting Authority for further action, Kganyago said.
It had also instituted a civil action in the Special Tribunal to review and set aside the contract.
He said if successful, the proceedings instituted in the Special Tribunal will claw back some of the monies lost by the local municipality through the tender.
This will pave the way for the State’s only anti-corruption, forensic investigation and civil litigation agency to recover financial losses suffered by the municipality due to negligence and corruption.