The DA's bid to obtain a forensic audit into corruption in Durban has allegedly been foiled by the co-operative governance MEC.
|||Durban - The DA's bid to obtain a forensic audit into corruption in Durban has been foiled by co-operative governance MEC Nomusa Dube, the party's eThekwini leader said on Monday.
Zwakele Mncwango said Dube's department asked for a 30-day extension as consultations with the anti-corruption task team needed to take place before a decision could be taken on his Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application for a full copy of the report, with annexures.
“This excuse is a complete contradiction of what Dube herself stated in a press conference at the Durban City Hall last month where she said those wanting access to the report merely had to do so via a Paia application,” Mncwango said.
Dube released an abridged version of the report, by Manase and Associates, to the council last February. The city was supposed to release its full contents last July.
However, on August 1, mayor James Nxumalo said the full report would not be released, as this would prejudice those involved. At the time, Nxumalo said the municipality was hoping to make the full report public by the end of December, when all disciplinary processes had been completed.
The probe was instituted after Auditor General Terence Nombembe said in his 2009/10 report that the municipality had irregularly spent R532 million. Accusations against a number of senior officials were made, including former municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe.
According to Nombembe's report, 10 councillors had business interests with entities conducting business with the eThekwini municipality.
Mncwango claimed Dube had failed to say that any application was subject to approval by the anti-corruption task team.
“She 1/8Dube 3/8 has no respect for the people whose public funds were squandered by municipal officials and ANC cadres. Clearly Dube is using this team as a scapegoat to wriggle out of giving people access to the report and she must be challenged on it,” he said.
Dube's spokesman Lennox Mabaso said: “We are baffled because we have never received a application from the DA. We only have an application from a Mncwango. The people processing the application may not even know that he is a member of the DA.”
He said the Democratic Alliance needed to apologise “for taking the department through the mud”.
Mabaso said an applicant did not need to reveal to which party he belonged, but the DA could not then claim it had made an application. He accused the party of “lies and deceit”. - Sapa