EASTERN CAPE – Five former Nelson Mandela Bay municipal Officers, three company directors and three juristic persons are due in the Gqeberha New Law Court today, 29 July 2021 for allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering.

It is alleged that in 2014, Public Health Directorate within Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality awarded a tender to the Service Provider Milongani Eco Consulting CC to do environmental impact assessment. The contract is reported to have been for a duration of three years expiring in July 2017. The tariff rate is said to have been R350-00 per hour.

Further allegations are that within 24 hours of signing the contract an invoice of R1 million was immediately submitted and paid by the municipality. It is also reported that other numerous payments were made for services that were never rendered thus prejudicing the municipality cash to the value of R 26 million. It is said that even interns within the municipality with expired contracts were also paid out of this contract.

The Provincial Head Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya gave the Eastern Cape Serious Corruption Investigation team a thumbs up for repeatedly unveiling the scourge of corrupt tendencies by municipal officials thus compromising the livelihood mostly of those on the lower rung of the social ladder. He reiterated that those funds could have been used to curb the unemployment rate by establishing projects that could help in putting food on the table of the underprivileged.

Source: South African Police Service