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IOL News
4 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Inside the R320 million fraud case against Zandile Gumede: Court updates and revelations
Former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her spokesperson Siphelele Jiyane. Image: Tumi Pakkies / Independent Newspapers The Durban High Court earlier this week ruled in favour of Zandile Gumede, the former mayor of eThekwini Municipality, and her co-accused, ordering the State to reveal a report from the municipality claiming that the company that looked into the R320 million tender irregularities was unlawfully appointed. Gumede and her 21 co-accused are facing numerous charges, including money laundering, racketeering, fraud, corruption, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act, relating to the R320 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender. Integrity Forensic Solutions (IFS), a forensic company contracted by eThekwini's City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU), looked into irregularities in the tender. This is after the CIIU received anonymous documents alleging irregularities in the solid waste tender. After IFS investigated, the Hawks took over the matter, leading to arrests. The court in 2024 was told that there was an investigation by the city to probe the appointment of IFS. The city hired Masama Consulting to investigate. As a result of that investigation, the CIIU's top investigator was fired. He is considered a key witness in the corruption trial Counsel for Gumede, advocate Jay Naidoo SC, made an application to the court asking for it to compel the State to make the Masama report available. Naidoo said he wanted to open his cross-examination with the former CIIU boss to question him about the appointment of IFS. In delivering her ruling, Judge Sharmaine Balton ordered the State to provide the applicant (Gumede) with the file opened and registered with the CIIU, pursuant to a 'whistle-blower' report dated May 9, 2023, about allegations of irregularities committed by the former boss of CIIU and top investigator, in the appointment of IFS, to conduct the forensic investigation in the matter. Judge Balton said this included, among other things, a whistle-blower report dated May 9, 2023, the forensic investigation report, together with all annexures compiled by Masama Consulting (mostly referred to as the Masama report), and the CIIU recommendations on actions to be taken. The judge ruled that a copy of the agenda, minutes of the meeting, and resolutions of the Executive Committee and the full council of eThekwini Municipality about the Masama report must be made available to the defence. Additionally, she said a copy of the record of the disciplinary proceedings instituted against the CIIU's top investigator by the municipality should be made available to the defence. She said a charge sheet served on the CIIU investigator and the outcome of the disciplinary tribunal must be given to the defence. 'The respondent (State) is directed to provide the information to the applicant (Gumede) within 10 days of this order,' she said. Additionally, the defence started its cross-examination of a State witness who worked for the tenders and contracts unit in eThekwini. The witness said she was part of the Executive Acquisitions Committee (EAC), an advisory committee that was established by former city manager Sipho Nzuza. She told the court that, given the urgency of getting contractors to collect waste in the city, Nzuza was well within his rights to require the former deputy head of Supply Chain Management, Sandile Ngcobo, to sign the letters of award on December 28, 2017. The court learned that the contracts of service providers who were collecting waste around the city were going to expire on December 31, 2017. The Solid Waste Unit requested permission from the Bid Adjudicating Committee (BAC) to hire qualified service providers to collect waste. This comes after it was unable to complete the bidding procedures in time due to the large number of bidders it received for the November tender. On December 19, 2017, the BAC approved quotations for the companies. The witness did not, however, bring the BAC's decisions to the December 21, 2017, EAC meeting. She explained that it was because she had been off since December 20. She also mentioned that the BAC had authorised the quotations, but with a need that compliance checks to be performed. Following protocol, she had also stated that the EAC's agenda had been set days in advance. The trial continues [email protected]
IOL News
4 days ago
- IOL News
Urgent tender processes revealed in Zandile Gumede's corruption trial
Former mayor of eThekwini Municipality Zandile Gumede and her sister in-law, Zano Maphumulo. Image: Nomonde Zondi The 14-day cooling-off period did not apply when the eThekwini Municipality awarded the R320 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender in December 2017 due to a deviation from standard tender procedures, a State witness told the Durban High Court on Friday. This is because Section 36 of the Supply Chain Management policy had to be put into effect at this time, and the municipality needed to urgently get service providers to collect waste. The State witness, who cannot be named as per a court order, said this during her cross-examination with defence counsel, Advocate Credo Mlaba. Mlaba is counsel for former city manager Sipho Nzuza, who is the third accused in the matter. Nzuza and former mayor of eThekwini Municipality Zandile Gumede are charged with 20 others for money laundering, racketeering, fraud, corruption, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act relating to the DSW R320 million tender. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Earlier this week, the witness who worked for the tenders and contracts unit within the municipality told the court that she was forced to issue letters of award to service providers to collect waste without allowing the 14-day cooling-off period. She said she was forced to break internal controls by issuing letters of appointment to companies that had been recommended to collect waste without Nzuza's signature. The court has heard that due to the urgency of the matter, the Solid Waste Unit had gone to the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) to ask for authority to source quotations from experienced service providers to collect waste in the city. This is because the contracts of the current service providers at the time were expiring on December 31, 2017. This came after the unit received a lot of bidders in November for this tender and realised that they were not going to finalise the process on time. Additionally, counsel for the fifth accused, Sandile Ngcobo, advocate Jimmy Howse SC, started his cross-examination and referred the witness to a transcript of a BAC meeting on December 19, 2017. The witness attended this meeting. He asked her if Ngcobo was referring to the Solid Waste Unit when he said the compliance checks for the service providers need to be thoroughly done. 'That is correct, Mr Howse. He instructed at the meeting,' she said. The witness also agreed with Howse that Ngcobo said the Solid Waste Unit could get any service provider as long as they were experienced. The court has heard that compliance checks were not done. Additionally, the matter had to be adjourned early as one of the accused, Bhekokwakhe Phewa, was sick. The matter was adjourned until Monday.
IOL News
5 days ago
- IOL News
Zandile Gumede case: State witness confirms former City Manager's role in waste tender decisions
Former eThekwini City Manager Sipho Nzuza. Image: Doctor Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers A State witness has told the Durban High Court that the former City Manager of eThekwini Municipality was well within his rights to sign letters of award for the waste collection tenders in 2017. The R320 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender fraud trial involves former Mayor Zandile Gumede and 21 other accused who facenumerous charges including money laundering, racketeering, fraud, corruption, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act. In 2017 the Solid Waste Unit had to urgently appoint service providers to collect waste in the City as the contracts of existing service providers were due to expire on December 31, 2017. Moreover, the State witness who in December 2017 worked at the tenders and contracts unit has admitted under cross examination that Sipho Nzuza, the former City Manager was within his rights to require or ask the former deputy head of Supply Chain Management, Sandile Ngcobo about the letters of awards on December 28 2017. Ngcobo is also an accused in this matter. This is as the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) chaired by Ngcobo approved the Solid Waste unit to approach experienced service providers to collect waste in eThekwini. The BAC gave it approval on December 19,2017 for the Solid Waste Unit to get new service providers to collect waste. It also approved their quotations. This witness told the court that she did not take the BAC decision to the Executive Acquisitions Committee (EAC). The EAC was an advisory committee established by Nzuza to assist him to make decisions. In giving various reasons for this, the witness on Thursday told the court that these decisions did not go to the EAC because she was on leave and the agenda was prepared days before the EAC. She had also told the court that she was responsible for drafting the agenda for all the committees and decision circulars. Despite the urgency of the matter, the witness said the BAC decisions about the solid waste tender reached the EAC on January 29, 2018. Nzuza's counsel, Advocate Credo Mlaba put it to the witness that Nzuza was faced with a situation where the waste was not going to be collected in the City and on December 28, 2017 he approached Ngcobo for an update on the waste collection and asked him to attend to the letters of award, as this was an emergency. 'Nzuza said it would have been impossible for him to wait for January 29, 2018 as the BAC decisions did not make it to the EAC meeting on December 21, 2017. Would you like to comment on that?' The witness said it was understood this was Nzuza's role and the witness also agreed with advocate Jay Naidoo SC, counsel for Gumede that the SCM policy and regulations authorised Nzuza to sign the letters of awards based on decisions taken by the BAC. However, she said if he solely signed without consulting EAC, he would be disregarding his own internal policy.
The Citizen
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
DA welcomes move to suspend Sedibeng mayor Lerato Maloka
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Sedibeng has welcomed a council resolution to request the suspension of Sedibeng Executive Mayor Lerato Maloka, pending a disciplinary investigation into alleged misconduct. According to a statement by DA Sedibeng caucus leader Cllr Sibusiso Dyonase, council resolved to write to Gauteng MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Jacob Mamabolo, calling for Maloka's immediate suspension. Maloka is accused of negligence in her duties, with the DA highlighting her alleged role in the wasteful expenditure of over R500,000 on a trip to Germany involving other municipal officials. The statement also references a controversial incident involving the mayoral vehicle, in which sugar was reportedly found in the engine after the mayor was compelled to use the R490,000 car. Dyonase criticised Maloka for giving a press interview behind closed doors while council debated her future. During the media briefing, Maloka reportedly called for a Section 106 investigation into alleged maladministration in her administration and claimed she was the target of a smear campaign. The DA maintains that the issues raised by the mayor occurred under her leadership and cannot be dismissed as political attacks. 'The DA proudly adds its voice to the call – suspend mayor Maloka and conduct a speedy disciplinary investigation,' Dyonase concluded. Maloka, however, has written to MEC Jacob Mamabolo requesting an independent investigation under Section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act. In her letter, she alleges that the municipal manager is orchestrating a smear campaign against her and has called for the MEC to probe irregular appointments, inflated salaries, and dubious procurement processes within the municipality. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
6 days ago
- IOL News
State witness reveals shocking details in Zandile Gumede's R320 million fraud trial
Former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and second accused Mondli Michael Mthembu. Image: Nomonde Zondi In an emotional testimony, a State witness told the Durban High Court on Wednesday that in December 2017, she was forced to issue letters of award to service providers to collect waste without allowing the 14-day cooling-off period. She was testifying in the R320 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender fraud trial involving the former mayor of eThekwini, Zandile Gumede. Gumede and her 21 co-accused are facing numerous charges, including money laundering, racketeering, fraud, corruption, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act relating to the tender. The State witness served as a senior official in the tenders and contracts unit around December 2017, which is a period during which the State is alleging that the offences were committed by the accused. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ She said she was forced to break internal controls by issuing letters of appointment to companies that had been recommended to collect waste without the signature of former city manager Sipho Nzuza. The witness, who cried while testifying in virtual court, said this was a breach of protocol. However, things took a sharp turn when advocate Jay Naidoo SC, counsel for Gumede, put the witness in a corner about why the December reports from the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) did not reach the advisory committee led by former city manager Sipho Nzuza on December 21, 2017. The witness was part of the Executive Acquisitions Committee (EAC), an advisory committee, formed by Nzuza. She was on this committee in her capacity as a financial officer. As a secretariat at the BAC, she crafted and prepared the agenda of all the committees, including the EAC. She told the court that the reason the BAC's December reports did not make it to the EAC was that one report that was tabled at BAC on December 14, 2017, was the same as the one tabled on BAC on November 27, 2017. In November, the Solid Waste Unit sought authority from the BAC to advertise the tender contracts for waste collection. Upon realising that they had received a lot of tender applications, the unit went to the BAC on December 14 to seek authority to invite experienced service providers to collect waste. This was approved on December 19, and the unit had come back to the BAC with all the particulars of the experienced services. The court has heard that only compliance checks were not done. When Naidoo asked her if, at the BAC meeting on December 14, the Solid Waste Unit stated why it came to the committee for the same thing, she said the December report was addressed to Nzuza, not the committee. 'It is not my fault that the line department came to BAC with the same thing,' she said. However, after a while, she agreed with Naidoo that the report tabled on December 14 included illegal dumping and it was different from the November one. 'It is slightly different,' she said. She further changed her answer to say that the reason why the decisions made by the BAC on December 14 and 19 did not reach the EAC meeting on December 21, 2017, because compliance checks were not conducted.. She said in the next meeting of the EAC, which was on January 29, 2018, the December reports made it to the meeting.
