Pretoria - The long-overdue forensic report into the City of Tshwane’s irregularly awarded contract to engineering firm GladAfrica in 2017 to manage municipal infrastructure projects has finally been adopted by council.
For more than two years the report was blocked by former city manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola, who approached the court. The EFF and ANC previously voted against investigations into the contract.
In 2019, the auditor-general flagged the contract as irregular. Both the City and GladAfrica had since reached a mutual agreement to terminate the contract they signed in 2017.
The Pretoria News previously reported that officials implicated in the report, which was concluded in 2019 by Gobodo Forensic Investigative Accounting, were yet to face disciplinary action.
Former head administrator Mpho Nawa, who was appointed by the Gauteng provincial government in line with Section 139 (1) (c) of the Constitution to run the municipality, told the Pretoria News during his tenure that 224 officials would face the music for their questionable roles in the matter.
The report was attended to during an in-committee meeting and eventually adopted by council.
The DA, which has on several occasions pushed for it to be passed in council, celebrated its adoption and disclosed it had recommended that the municipality ought to mete out disciplinary action against implicated officials and also recover funds from contractors.
In a statement, the party said it welcomed the adoption of the forensic report by council after years of delay.
“The contract was irregularly awarded in 2017 under former city manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola. It was never properly disclosed to the mayoral committee nor the municipal council. The auditor-general later held the contract to be unlawful,” the party said.
The DA further said the then mayor Solly Msimanga asked council to investigate the GladAfrica matter, “but since then several attempts were made by the ANC and the EFF to hobble any such investigation”.
Part of the report, according to the DA, made recommendations about the recovery of funds from contractors and disciplinary action to be taken against implicated officials.
“This is based, inter alia, on the finding that fraudulent invoices were submitted, and that the contractor grossly overcharged the municipality.
“Section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act is clear that unauthorised, irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure must be investigated, and recovery is possible from both present and past employees,” said the party.
The party expressed confidence that there would eventually be accountability regarding the GladAfrica saga.
“A criminal case was already opened by the DA in 2018, and we urge law enforcement authorities to complete their investigation into the matter,” the party said.
A parliamentary portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs has in the past raised concerns about the GladAfrica matter, citing a lack of consequence management in the municipality.
Committee chairperson Faith Muthambi said: "The committee raised concerns that oversight and accountability structures are not effective, leading to a lack of consequence management.
“For example, the recommendations made in the forensic investigation report into the GladAfrica infrastructure contract have not yet been implemented and consequence management has not been executed. This is a concern and requires urgent action.”
Pretoria News