Cape Town - Three former Eastern Cape municipal officials have been granted bail in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
Dumile Mvulane, 59, former Sakhisizwe Municipality manager, Nothemba Ntlantsana-Toyi, 45, the former municipal project manager and Claudius Nhawu, 42, the director of Sky High Engineering Consulting company who face charges of fraud and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act were granted R10 000 bail each.
This follows their arrest by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s (Hawks) Serious Corruption Investigation unit.
According to the provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, Captain Yolisa Mgolodela it is alleged that during the 2017/18 financial year the Sakhisizwe Local Municipality embarked on a sports field uplifting project in Elliot, now Khowa.
The project was allocated R12 million and a tender was advertised. Companies submitted their documents for the bidding.
Mgolodela said the bidding committee nominated the deserving company and forwarded the name to the municipal manager, Mvulane.
He is alleged to have changed the name of the company without providing the treasury with a reason.
“A civil engineering company which was also appointed for quantification is alleged to have escalated the costs, thus exceeding the budget by more than R4.9 million.
“It is reported that the auditor general discovered the discrepancy and a complaint was lodged with the Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in East London for probing in August 2019,” Mgolodela said.
The Hawks have stated more arrests in this scandal are imminent.
The matter has since been postponed until August 1, 2022.