Papers before the Grahamstown High Court have blown wide open the extent of corruption at Mnquma municipality which, an audit report suggests, has been fleeced of tens of millions of rands by politicians, officials and businessmen.
Just three tenders, which auditor PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) found were highly irregular, scored one businessman, the late Sive Nombembe, some R31-million.
It is estimated that in the single biggest tender of all – involving the sale of black bin bags to the municipality – he bagged a profit of more than 1 600% when he took home some R9-million of R10-million paid to him for 1.3 million bags.
He paid just R500 000 for the bags, which amounts to about 40c a bag, while the municipality, in turn, paid Nombembe’s company Big Event Boy about R10 a bag.
Out of his profits from this and other tenders, the court papers suggest he shared at least R1.3-million in kickbacks with what court papers termed politically influential people.
They included then Mnquma municipal manager Sindile Tantsi, who has since died, ANC Amathole regional secretary Teris Ntutu, and senior Mnquma manager Zanele Mbewu.
The criminal corruption case against Ntutu, Mbewu and businessman Regis Masuku has been slowed by the deaths of Tantsi and Nombembe in two separate car accidents.
The matter has now been postponed to late next month.
The court papers were part of a massive ex-parte application, moved by Grahamstown attorney Marius Wolmarans, in which the National Director of Public Prosecutions successfully sought to preserve or place a restraint on hundreds of thousands of rands worth of assets belonging to Mbewu, Ntutu and the estates of Nombembe and Tantsi, among others.
An ex-parte application is brought without any notice to those affected.
Preservation and restraint orders prevent people who own the assets from in any way disposing of them pending an application to forfeit them to the state.
Judge Jeremy Pickering granted the applications earlier this month.
The PwC report and an affidavit by the late Nombembe, in which he admits giving kickbacks to Ntutu and other municipal officials, reveal sensational details about how the alleged corruption was facilitated.
Each payment by the municipality into Big Event Boy’s bank account was immediately followed by internet transfers to the likes of Ntutu, Mbewu or one of her relatives, as well as massive cash withdrawals, which Nombembe said usually found their way to Tantsi.
The 30-year-old says in his statement that shortly after receiving the tender to supply cleaning equipment and black bags in 2014, he had been called in by Ntutu and told he should now assist the ANC financially.
He was instructed to do so by putting the money into Ntutu’s personal account, from where it would be filtered down to the party.
“If I did not comply with his instruction, I understood I would lose the contract.”
He had referenced the kickbacks in the transfers as “ANC”, “Sasco” or “Telkom”, to give them a legal guise, he said.
Apart from cash kickbacks, he said he had also bought Tantsi a Mercedes-Benz car and then had a carport built for him to house it in.
In November 2015 the municipality paid him R500000, which was tied to one of the contracts.
He said Tantsi had phoned him to say this was his (Tantsi’s) money and must be paid to him. Ntutu had phoned to ensure he got the message. He had withdrawn R400000 in cash and paid it to Tantsi. The remaining R100 000 was transferred to Ntutu.
PwC director Trevor White sets out the extent of the corruption. He said the award of each tender to Nombembe’s various companies from which he made grotesque profits was grossly irregular.
It indicated either gross negligence on the part of the bid adjudication or bid evaluation committees, or deliberate manipulation.
The report follows the money trail, recording every payment into Nombembe’s accounts and where the money went from there.
In the report, White highlights a letter signed by Nombembe and sent to then ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane in which he acknowledges that the publicity around his criminal matter had damaged the integrity of the ANC.
He effectively throws Ntutu under the bus explaining to Mabuyane that, knowing the award of contracts required political influence, he had approached Ntutu to help him clinch the contract for the supply of cleaning equipment and rubbish bags.
“He agreed to do so but requested that when he, from time to time, asks for financial assistance for his personal needs, I should first guarantee that I would oblige, to which I agreed.”
Regional spokesman for the director of public prosecutions in Mthatha, Luxolo Tyali, said yesterday all the relevant parties had now also been served with asset forfeiture papers.
They would be given the opportunity to contest in court the allegations made against them.
Mnquma fleeced of tens of millions of rands by politicians & businessmen
Just three tenders, which auditor PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) found were highly irregular, scored one businessman, the late Sive Nombembe, some R31-million.
It is estimated that in the single biggest tender of all – involving the sale of black bin bags to the municipality – he bagged a profit of more than 1 600% when he took home some R9-million of R10-million paid to him for 1.3 million bags.
He paid just R500 000 for the bags, which amounts to about 40c a bag, while the municipality, in turn, paid Nombembe’s company Big Event Boy about R10 a bag.
Out of his profits from this and other tenders, the court papers suggest he shared at least R1.3-million in kickbacks with what court papers termed politically influential people.
They included then Mnquma municipal manager Sindile Tantsi, who has since died, ANC Amathole regional secretary Teris Ntutu, and senior Mnquma manager Zanele Mbewu.
The criminal corruption case against Ntutu, Mbewu and businessman Regis Masuku has been slowed by the deaths of Tantsi and Nombembe in two separate car accidents.
The matter has now been postponed to late next month.
The court papers were part of a massive ex-parte application, moved by Grahamstown attorney Marius Wolmarans, in which the National Director of Public Prosecutions successfully sought to preserve or place a restraint on hundreds of thousands of rands worth of assets belonging to Mbewu, Ntutu and the estates of Nombembe and Tantsi, among others.
An ex-parte application is brought without any notice to those affected.
Preservation and restraint orders prevent people who own the assets from in any way disposing of them pending an application to forfeit them to the state.
Judge Jeremy Pickering granted the applications earlier this month.
The PwC report and an affidavit by the late Nombembe, in which he admits giving kickbacks to Ntutu and other municipal officials, reveal sensational details about how the alleged corruption was facilitated.
Each payment by the municipality into Big Event Boy’s bank account was immediately followed by internet transfers to the likes of Ntutu, Mbewu or one of her relatives, as well as massive cash withdrawals, which Nombembe said usually found their way to Tantsi.
The 30-year-old says in his statement that shortly after receiving the tender to supply cleaning equipment and black bags in 2014, he had been called in by Ntutu and told he should now assist the ANC financially.
He was instructed to do so by putting the money into Ntutu’s personal account, from where it would be filtered down to the party.
“If I did not comply with his instruction, I understood I would lose the contract.”
He had referenced the kickbacks in the transfers as “ANC”, “Sasco” or “Telkom”, to give them a legal guise, he said.
Apart from cash kickbacks, he said he had also bought Tantsi a Mercedes-Benz car and then had a carport built for him to house it in.
In November 2015 the municipality paid him R500000, which was tied to one of the contracts.
He said Tantsi had phoned him to say this was his (Tantsi’s) money and must be paid to him. Ntutu had phoned to ensure he got the message. He had withdrawn R400000 in cash and paid it to Tantsi. The remaining R100 000 was transferred to Ntutu.
PwC director Trevor White sets out the extent of the corruption. He said the award of each tender to Nombembe’s various companies from which he made grotesque profits was grossly irregular.
It indicated either gross negligence on the part of the bid adjudication or bid evaluation committees, or deliberate manipulation.
The report follows the money trail, recording every payment into Nombembe’s accounts and where the money went from there.
In the report, White highlights a letter signed by Nombembe and sent to then ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane in which he acknowledges that the publicity around his criminal matter had damaged the integrity of the ANC.
He effectively throws Ntutu under the bus explaining to Mabuyane that, knowing the award of contracts required political influence, he had approached Ntutu to help him clinch the contract for the supply of cleaning equipment and rubbish bags.
“He agreed to do so but requested that when he, from time to time, asks for financial assistance for his personal needs, I should first guarantee that I would oblige, to which I agreed.”
Regional spokesman for the director of public prosecutions in Mthatha, Luxolo Tyali, said yesterday all the relevant parties had now also been served with asset forfeiture papers.
They would be given the opportunity to contest in court the allegations made against them.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos