The City of Tshwane must act against 55 officials implicated in the municipality’s financial disciplinary board graft report, which revealed millions of rands were squandered during their tenure.
This was according to FF Plus councillor Grandi Theunissen, who called for the municipality to track down 20 of the 55 officials who resigned and bring them to book.
The cases about the officials came to light during a recent council meeting, where a report regarding 33 cases levelled against them was tabled.
The report, according to Theunissen, also mentioned another five cases where irregular and wasteful expenditure was reported.
He said the report recommended that R628 839 778 be written off as irregular expenditure.
“It was also recommended that approximately R35 million should be recovered from service providers, officials and former officials,”he said.
Criminal cases of theft and fraud against officials have already been lodged with the police.
Theunissen insisted that the 20 former officials implicated in irregularities during their tenure at the metro may not get off scot-free
This was despite the concern that those who left the metro’s employ can not face disciplinary actions.
“The party recommends that the metro should criminally prosecute these officials for unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure between 2014 and 2021,” Theunissen said.
He emphasised that resignation should not absolve officials from criminal or civil liability, citing a Court of Appeal decision in Bloemfontein where six former Nelson Mandela Bay Metro officials were ordered to repay funds for unlawful contract allocations.
“Like those of Tshwane, these six officials had already left the employ of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. Another three cases have already lapsed and in two cases there was insufficient evidence to take further steps,”he said.
He also said the Tshwane officials, service providers or councillors involved in the offences should be held accountable and that his party will disclose more information on the cases in the next few weeks.
The case against officials comes five months after the municipal public accounts committee called for officials to repay an amount of R246 million irregularly incurred by the City for the 2023/24 financial year.
At the time, the committee said the decision to recoup funds from officials marked a crucial step in their ongoing efforts to ensure that every rand of public money is spent responsibly and in accordance with laws and regulations.
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Pretoria News