Two more arrests as R10 million Mnquma road tender probe zooms in

Two business people, implicated in a road construction tender for which Mnquma municipality paid R9.1m in 2013 and for which no work was allegedly done, were each granted R10,000 bail by the Butterworth magistrate's court on Tuesday.

The two, East London-based contractor Meliwe Mangwiro, 38, and Johannesburg-based consultant Malik Yusuf Addae, 69, handed themselves over to the Hawks investigators in East London on Monday.

The duo face fraud, theft, corruption and money laundering charges related to more than R10m.

In addition to the R9.1m, the available project budget at the time, the cash-strapped council paid an extra R982,000 for the contract.

On November 2 the two will join three other accused in the matter: former Mnquma project manager Phaphama Ntswanti and businessmen Wonga Malusi and Chuma Matoti, who were arrested and granted R10,000 bail each a  month ago.

Four companies face similar charges, as they allegedly benefited illegally from the tender.

Addae and Mangwiro were not arrested when their co-accused were nabbed on August 28 because they were believed to be quarantining in Gauteng and Cape Town, according to the Hawks.

Hawks provincial spokesperson Lwando Zenzile said the Mnquma municipality had invited bidders for the preliminary designs of Ngqamakhwe town's internal street surfacing in August 2013.

HMP Africa and CWZ Matoti & Associates were appointed as consulting engineers for the project, while Soyama Construction and Luqaqambo Civil Construction were appointed for the surfacing work.

Zenzile said it was found that the workmanship was poor and that the municipal officials had signed payment certificates for the four companies, who had formed joint ventures for services that had not been rendered.

Zenzile said the Hawks found that more than R9.1m had been lost by the municipality, and their investigation also led to findings of an overexpenditure of R982,000 that was charged to the municipality.

It is the state's case that the former project manager signed off on all invoices and the service providers pocketed the money, while no decent work was done.

“It was found that the workmanship was substandard and poor,” Zenzile said.

Mnquma spokesperson Loyiso Mpalantshane on Tuesday welcomed the arrests, saying justice had to take its course, and that money allegedly defrauded from the council had to be recovered.

Mpalantshane said none of those arrested was now on their payroll as Ntswanti resigned in 2015, and none of the involved companies had done any work with the municipality since then.

“As the current Mnquma administration we have a zero-tolerance policy against corruption and fraud, and therefore we say justice should take its course.

“As the current administration we are working tirelessly towards preventing criminality on the part of our officials.”

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