The City of Cape Town notes arrests related to alleged fraudulent over-billing by a subcontractor for repairs and maintenance, including the arrest of one City official and one ex-official. The City’s Forensic Investigation function has worked closely with authorities, including sharing all information available based on City records. As a result of the forensic investigation, disciplinary charges were laid against the officials in question based on the facts available to the City. One of these officials has since resigned. The City will continue to assist authorities and will take all necessary action to ensure accountability.

The City has a zero tolerance approach to corruption. Where there is credible evidence of corruption or malfeasance, those responsible must face the full force of the law, and the City will always co-operate fully with prosecuting authorities.

Besides the forensic investigation, the City’s Internal Audit also independently identified various control gaps in the management of the underlying contract, initially awarded in 2017/18. The Internal Audit report further identified the need for better contract management practices in general.

The City has since created its own Engineering Services Unit, staffed with professionals who monitor all construction and maintenance work.

Various internal directives and guidelines have tightened contract management controls, and there is now a fully-fledged Project and Portfolio Management Department. This is alongside training for officials and changes to the emphasis of performance management.  To address the historical gaps,  multi-level controls have since been built with strong oversight by management.   The objective is to ensure contract management and project execution delivers on the City’s service delivery mandate and ensure that value for money is received for the ratepayer.

In the last five years, over 40 000 affordable rental unit (CRU) tenants have benefitted from R2 billion in maintenance and upgrades.

The City has further transferred ownership of over 60 000 of its rental stock units to long-standing tenants to date, with around 7 700 units still available for sale and transfer to eligible tenants.

An estimated 160 000 people currently benefit from an affordable rental unit operated by the City.

Source: City Of Cape Town