The DA in Madibeng has called for an investigation into alleged double payments to contractors by the Madibeng Local Municipality.
According to DA councillor, Nkateko Mabunda the DA sought clarity during a recent council meeting about duplicate payments identified in the Procurement of Contract Services of the 2021/22 mid-year Budget and Performance Assessment Report. “Officials failed to immediately provide clarity on this issue and further examination revealed that the payments were matched to duplicate purchase orders with the highest payment made to Maximum Profit Recovery (Pty) Ltd for R980 000,” Mabunda said. The DA further identified a duplicate payment of up to R1,3 million allegedly made to the Sizwe Africa IT Group. The most recent of these payments identified was the amount of R1,9 million in December 2021. “Upon questioning this payment, officials explained that the finding was a result of a typographical error and will be corrected.”
The DA has now requested the Mayor, Cllr Douglas Maimane, and Speaker, Cllr Ditshego Mbedzi, to investigate the allegations of persistent duplicate payments to contractors and service providers.
“This is not the first time the DA identified these types of occurrences within Madibeng Local Municipality. Mayor Maimane expressed his discontent in Council regarding the duplicate payments and condoned any investigations into it as he was unaware of the situation. He further stated that previous investigations into duplicate payments were found pointless as the junior official implicated in this matter is currently employed within the municipality,” he said.
“The DA insists that a full investigation be launched, and a detailed report be submitted to the council. Furthermore, if there is an indication of fraud or corruption, the DA will open a case with the South African Police Services.”
Kormorant is waiting for comment from the municipality.