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The Hawks and other agencies carried out search and seizure raids in Durban on Tuesday. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Tiro Ramatlhatse)
Those implicated in the corruption are eThekwini employees and providers of water and sanitation services who were working on a project that involved supplying piped water and sewerage via water to informal settlements, rural areas and transit camps.
The Hawks’ anti-corruption task force and other agencies raided 15 properties in Durban on Tuesday, seizing documents and electronic equipment connected to a corruption investigation at eThekwini’s Department of Water and Sanitation involving a project dating back to 2008.
A similar raid related to the same investigation took place in July.
At the time, the estimated value of the alleged fraud, corruption and money laundering was 200 million rand, but it has since skyrocketed to 700 million rand, according to Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.
The search and seizure operation was carried out by units of the Hawks Digital Forensic Laboratory, Specialized Investigation in Priority Crimes, SAPS Crime Scene Management and the National Intervention Unit.
Those implicated in the corruption are eThekwini employees and providers of water and sanitation services who were working on a project that included supplying piped water and sewerage systems through water to previously identified informal settlements, rural areas and camps of transit.
According to publicly available documents, each ablution block built was expected to meet the needs of 75 households.
The project began in 2008 and was a precursor to formal housing developments, with the third phase of the multi-year project ending in 2019. There are more than 600 informal settlements in the metro, which is equivalent to approximately 230,000 households.
Consistent with eThekwini’s medium-term income and expenditure framework for 2018/19 to 2020/21, the city has since employed more than 1,500 caregivers to maintain the approximately 1,650 sanitary facilities, officially known as Containerized Ablution Blocks. (CAB). Mobile units are made from shipping containers or consist of pre-fabricated structures.
Mulaudzi confirmed that investigations into the decade-long project began last year. No arrests have been made, he said, and there is no indication yet as to when they will be carried out, but investigations are being finalized.
“We are in the last part of the investigation. The arrest part will come, we just make sure we gather all the evidence, and then once that’s done, we’ll take it to the NPA, ”he said. Daily maverick.
During the raid, many gadgets, communication devices, electronic equipment and documents were seized, he said, and would be sent for analysis. Once this was done, a “good product” would be delivered to the NPA, where a decision on prosecution would be made.
In a press release issued later Tuesday, Mulaudzi specified that the seized items included laptops, desktops, hard drives, cell phones, bank cards, company details, invoices and company registration documents.
He dismissed media reports that emerged Tuesday morning that several high-end vehicles had been seized.
“We were there to collect documentation for the investigations, no vehicles were seized,” he said. Daily maverick.
The alleged corruption follows the same simple formula used by those implicated in the R430 million Durban solid waste tender case for which the former mayor of eThekwini and acting MPL, Zandile Gumede, and officials, councilors and suppliers have been charged. of services.
City officials allegedly registered bogus businesses to receive payments, forged documents, and selected or endorsed service providers, who were paid for work not done. Most of the companies that received the contracts were not registered in the municipal database.
“It is alleged that false statements were made to the municipality and in some cases authorized signatures were not endorsed on the invoices according to the approval requirement.
“Despite the alleged falsification of documents, payments were approved and significant amounts of money were allegedly channeled to officials for their own benefit,” Mulaudzi said in the statement.
The city called the effort a “strong development agenda,” with a prime contractor in each area advising emerging subcontractors and providing jobs in project areas.
At one stage, the city said the project had employed 2,470 mainly unskilled workers.
The project was part of the city’s Incremental Services Program (ISP) to address the accumulation of services in informal settlements. The program includes the supply of water through fixed pipes and sanitary facilities, solid waste disposal, basic roads, trails and stormwater drainage, prepaid electricity and social facilities. DM
