How eThekwini city manager violated his bail conditions
|Published
EThekwini City Mangager Sipho Nzuza at his appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s court on charges of fraud. Picture: Doctor Ngcobo/African News Agency(ANA)
Durban - MORE eThekwini supply chain management letters of award and bid adjudication committee decisions signed off by embattled eThekwini manager Sipho Nzuza have emerged, despite the city’s assurance last week that Nzuza was not involved in procurement matters.
This act is in direct contravention of his bail conditions, related to the R430 million Durban Solid Waste fraud and corruption case.
Nzuza’s recent bail conditions specifically stated that he should not get involved in any supply chain management and tender processes.
According to information obtained from eThekwini, one of the city manager’s job descriptions is to sign off on all tenders.
The Daily News has seen more than 10 of the documents that Nzuza has signed and they have a combined tender value of more than R40 million.
The documents, signed between October 20 and 21 – over a week ago – sought various services, including the title deeds restoration, construction of a concrete slab for additional parking bays on top of the Stanvac Canal, completion of a swimming pool at Umgababa Beach, and provision of forensic investigations and the design, supply, delivery and installation of high masts.
A senior municipal employee who approached the Daily News as a whistleblower said Nzuza’s signature on the documents did not do him any favours.
“Documents get leaked internally and there are individuals who have their own agendas. Why did he (Nzuza) return to work? Given the current situation, he should have stayed at home and focused on how he would resolve the pending fraud and corruption case against him,” said the employee.
Nzuza’s signing authority was questioned at a recent executive council (exco) meeting, where he presented a Covid-19 procurement report. At the time, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda urged patience, saying this was an “unprecedented situation” where a city manager performs some duties and not others.
The DA’s Nicole Graham said Nzuza’s return to the office was nothing short of “shambolic”.
“When the matter was discussed at October’s council meeting, we made a simple and logical proposal – that the council should have taken a decision to remove all supply chain management related and accounting officer functions from Nzuza and allocated them to someone of our choosing.
This was critical to satisfying Nzuza’s bail conditions, as well as to protect the integrity and image of our municipality,” Graham said. Graham said they believed that this was potentially a violation of Nzuza’s bail conditions, and would be forwarding these documents to the relevant authorities.
The IFP’s Mdu Nkosi said the city lacked transparency and that “shenanigans” only came to the fore through the media.
“The investigating officers in his fraud and corruption case should look into these allegations and action must be taken if he is found to have broken his bail conditions,” Nkosi said. Attempts to get a comment from Nzuza were unsuccessful as his phone was unanswered and he did not reply to text messages.
His lawyer, Dinesha Deeplal, requested the documents signed by Nzuza be sent to her by email for comment. She had not replied by the time of publication.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in KZN, advocate Elaine Zungu, said the investigation team would look into the allegations of the breach of bail conditions. “If any of the bail conditions have been breached, the DPP will act accordingly,” Zungu said.
In a written response, city spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said Nzuza has not broken any law by returning to work, unless the city’s attention could be drawn to the contrary.
“Like any citizen, he has democratic rights and remains innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. As far as the city knows, he is clear of his bail conditions and is on record as saying that under no circumstances shall he disregard them. If the media has issues about him violating his bail conditions, our city manager believes in an open-door policy and we don’t think he would have any problem taking the media into his confidence in this regard. “I am not aware of any tenders that he has signed off on. Please note that the city has well-oiled legal machinery that advises its political leadership on matters of this nature,” Mayisela said
Daily News