Durban - The State’s first witness in the Durban Solid Waste (DSW) R300 million fraud case involving former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, told the Durban High Court yesterday that one of the leading investigators from the City Investigations Integrity Unity (CIIU) had received death threats and eventually resigned from eThekwini Metro. Her resignation, Mbuso Ngcobo testified, prompted the decision to outsource the investigation to an independent forensic investigator.
Gumede and her co-accused, who include former Durban city manager Sipho Nzuza; former exco member Mondli Mthembu; Robert Abbu, who was DSW’s deputy head; and Sandile Ngcobo, the former deputy head of supply chain management; face charges, including conspiracy to commit corruption, corruption, fraud, money laundering, racketeering, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act.
Ngcobo, the head of the CIIU, was responding to Gumede’s defence attorney advocate Jay Naidoo on the decision to employ an external service provider, with Naidoo saying it was a hasty decision and some supply chain management rules had been ignored.
The court heard that Integrity Forensic Solutions, the company that conducted the investigation for the City, had charged the municipality R596 000.
Naidoo put it to Ngcobo that the transaction had not received proper scrutiny and might amount to a transgression of one of the laws governing finances within the municipality.
Naidoo also questioned why a complaint over suspected corruption that had been received on March 7 had received such urgency.
The State alleges that eThekwini officials, including the former city manager and ex-mayor, circumvented the supply chain management processes on a DSW tender for the benefit of identified service providers.
Naidoo yesterday told Ngcobo that this was an indication of a hastily constructed case as the State failed to produce evidence, including minutes of the meeting of a management committee in audio or written format, where the decision for an investigation was made.
Ngcobo told the court that in some instances, decisions on forensic investigations were not recorded for fear that such matters might be leaked to the press and compromise investigations.
He insisted that they had followed all the normal protocols when they receive complaints. According to Ngcobo, even when they received complaints via a telephone call, they subjected each complaint to the normal procedures before concluding whether it should be investigated internally or outsourced.
Ngcobo also denied assertions by Naidoo, that they had targeted certain individuals, arguing that the unit had only sought to deal with corruption that had been alleged at the municipality.
Naidoo insisted to Ngcobo that the municipality had other structures with the capacity to deal with any allegations of corruption and that the appointment of IFS was intentionally done to achieve certain outcomes. Ngcobo denied this.
The cross-examination of Ngcobo continued on Monday.