A WHISTLE-BLOWER brought to light a scam whereby the eThekwini Municipality allegedly coughed-up millions of rand for electrical components that only existed on paper but was never delivered to the entity.
The nuts and bolts of how the funds were fleeced from the municipality was detailed in a thread of emails sent to senior managers, including City Manager Musa Mbhele.
The whistle-blower, whose identity has been protected, revealed how the municipality’s employees worked in cahoots with the syndicate to pull off the scam.
According to the records the said employees kept, the products were declared as received from suppliers, but in reality, it was nothing more than a ruse as the items were never delivered.
The whistle-blower, who revealed ‘his identity’ to the city, has linked the theft of the city’s 52 LED streetlights valued at R1.8 million as a part of the handiwork of the syndicate’s operators.
In November 2023, border police arrested two Mozambicans who had hidden the street lights in a bakkie at the Kosi Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
The whistle-blower said senior officials colluded with Supply Chain Management officials and service providers were involved in the scam.
The City had reported that the lights went missing from the depot, leaving officials scratching their heads trying to figure out how the items were removed from the stores without being captured on CCTV cameras.
During stock taking, the whistle-blower said the officials would bring empty boxes so that those taking stock would list the product as counted in the stock.
In an email to the municipality, the whistle-blower wrote: “Sir, In late 2023, multiple newspaper outlets reported that LED street lights branded eThekwini Municipality produced by the company (name withheld) owned by (name withheld). There were numerous reports of criminal investigations but subsequent to these media reports, your department has reported no factual consequences as to the theft of street lights.
“We have received the allegations as follows:
“1. Ethekwini Electricity Springfield Depot is primarily responsible for fraud amounting to hundreds of millions of rands by reflecting materials and items being received from suppliers and in stock whereas these materials have never arrived.
“2. Same unit above has staff that will attest that they move empty boxes around each time there is a stock take or audit.
“3. Same unit staff will attest that they get paid R2000 each in order to move boxes at night in between stock takes in order to move boxes to create the appearance of stock that is not there.
“4. Ethekwini internal audit officials received payoffs at random when they can prove stock is accounted for. Said payments have been in envelopes from officials named above in the presence of junior staffers in said depot.
“5. The LED street lights found at the border were received on paper and paid for by your department whereas it was never physically received. The stock was instead handed over to individuals representing the previous head of electricity (name withheld) who had been constructing a resort in Mozambique.“
Furthermore, the whistle-blower said the municipality is paying between R1 800 to R3 600 per LED streetlight while the recommended retail price ranges from R400 to R1 500.
The municipality’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, confirmed that the City had received the allegations and these were being investigated.
“The allegations are being investigated by the City Integrity and Investigations Unit, it is therefore premature to comment and is not in the interest of justice to make public statements about a matter that is under investigation. Regarding the LED lights case, please note that the matter is still pending at the Durban Regional Court and is sub judice,” said Sisilana.
DAILY NEWS