21/03/2024
Calls for Public Protector probe into fraud allegations against Nelson Mandela Bay mayor welcomed
Candice Bezuidenhout
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape has welcomed a call by the Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM) to the Public Protector to probe fraud allegations against Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Gary van Niekerk.
This after AIM secretary-general Maxhoba Buwa wrote to the Public Protector last week with a request to find Van Niekerk acted in a manner that is in breach of the Code of Conduct for councillors for making "appointments" on behalf of the municipality.
The allegations stem from claims made by the ACDP's Lance Grootboom, who said although Van Niekerk had not been the speaker of the Nelson Mandela Bay council for several months in 2022, he used an official letterhead and signature of the office to appoint Boqwana Burns Attorneys and rack up legal bills to the tune of R551 586.
AIM asked the Public Protector to decide whether Van Niekerk should be held personally liable for the legal bill.
Buwa said the investigation into the fraud allegations, which was supposed to be launched by a special investigating committee, "is stillborn" due to "the upshot of political shenanigans", with no prospect of progress any time soon.
This because at least seven meetings have collapsed due to in-fighting between the multi-party councillors in the committee around who the chairperson is.
The ANC and EFF have made it clear they do not accept the DA's Rano Kayser as chairperson, despite his election in the first meeting, because there was no secretariat present, thereby rendering his election null and void.
The parties have tried to get speaker Eugene Johnson to preside over a meeting to clear up the mess and restore order, but Johnson maintained she needed to remain objective as she only convened the meeting and was never meant to be a member of the committee.
"Meanwhile, the debt owed to the legal firm has accumulated interest over many months which would amount to fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure, and the clock continues to tick," Buwa said.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams' spokesperson, Pheello Oliphant, said the department supported any action that sought to uncover the alleged embezzlement of public funds.
He added the department "wishes to see public funds being used to deliver services to communities and nothing else".
He said: The alleged use of the R500 000 must be investigated by the Public Protector and she must test if it was justified.
"She must then report about the findings and appropriate remedial actions must be taken."
Oliphant said in terms of the Constitution, the Public Protector had the authority, as regulated in the legislation, to investigate any conduct in state affairs, be it in a municipality, state department or public entity.
He added AIM had a right to write to the Public Protector to ask it to investigate alleged or suspected acts of impropriety that prejudiced the public.
The Public Protector's office confirmed the party's complaint was being processed.
Meanwhile, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality sought a legal opinion to clarify once and for all who the legitimate chairperson of the special investigative committee is.
And according to Joubert Galpin Searle Attorneys, Kayser was lawfully elected.
The law firm said while a representative attended one of the meetings in November last year, it needed more information before formulating an opinion.
In a meeting held last month, the firm was furnished with the minutes of the previous meetings and "all available documents and facts".
"Accordingly, on the available documents and information available to us and presented at the committee meeting on 23 February 2024, we are satisfied that in the absence of concrete information produced to the contrary, Councillor Kayser was duly and unanimously elected as the chairperson of the committee," it said.
The legal opinion stated the committee, which was supposed to provide its first report to council in December 2023, was nowhere near ready to furnish it report or make recommendations on the matter.
"This inability of the committee to discharge its mandate places the speaker in an invidious position as she is hamstrung to give effect to her legislative obligation to report the matter to the council or the MEC as required."
While Kayser celebrates his small victory, Khanya Ngqisha, the regional chairperson of the EFF, which forms part of the committee, said a legal opinion was exactly that: an opinion.
The council operated through rules of order and not feelings, he added.
"There is no committee that sits without a secretariat. This is to avoid exactly what is happening now.
"The right thing to have done was to just reconvene the meeting with a secretariat present."
According to DA caucus leader and former mayor Retief Odendaal, there had been enough political "interference", and the committee should be allowed to do its job with Kayser at the helm.
"It sets a dangerous precedent that there can be interference in the processes and that people can get away with it."
Odendaal also welcomed AIM's complaint to the Public Prosecutor.
"More political parties in the metro are getting impatient and taking a stance. The more pressure, the better," he said.
The ANC could not be reached for comment.
