Former acting municipal manager summoned to court on charges of contravention of Municipal Finance Management Act. Image source: Pixabay
A 38-year-old former municipal manager in the North West province was issued with summons to appear before court on charges of contravention of Municipal Finance Management Act by the Klerksdorp based Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation on Wednesday, 20 March 2024. Reports revealed that in May 2017, protesters allegedly stoned windows of a licensing building of the municipality and finally set it alight. During December 2017, the then Director of Community Service submitted a recommendation that the affected building be repaired using the material and labour from the Municipality. The recommendation was approved by the then Chief Financial Officer. The material to the value of R28 000-00 was allegedly purchased, however, the building was never fixed.
It is alleged that during August 2018, the Former Acting Municipal Manager disregarded the recommendation made by the Director for Community Service and presented a motivation to appoint a service provider to fix the same building to the value of R390 000-00 which was paid. The matter was reported to the Hawks for investigation, and following the investigation, the Former Acting Municipal Manager was issued with summons to appear before court. He is facing charges of failure to take reasonable steps to implement Municipality Supply Chain Management policy and failure to take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized, irregular, or fruitless and wasteful expenditure. He is expected to appear before the Mmabatho Commercial Crimes Court on 12 April 2024.