The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) welcomes the arrest of former municipal manager of Moretele Municipality in the North West province for allegedly contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act and the irregular awarding of a multimillion-rand IT tender.
Theletsi Roger Nkhumise was arrested on Friday and immediately appeared at the Moretele Regional Court. Nkhumise is accused of unlawfully appointing Flame IT Strategy to render ICT services to the Moretele Municipality, which is largely rural, to the tune of approximately R215 million. The municipality inherited the contract for ICT services from Madibeng Local Municipality.
The arrest of Nkhumise follows an investigation conducted by the SIU, which revealed that the municipality increased the scope of work with two addendums to the original contract without following processes governing municipal procurement of goods and services.
Furthermore, the SIU investigation revealed that the price from that of the original contract between Madibeng Municipality and Flame IT are definitely not in sync with the pricing between Moretele Municipality and Flame IT. Madibeng paid Flame IT approximately R64 million for a similar service.
The SIU probe revealed that Moretele is paying way more than what Madibeng Municipality paid Flame IT for a similar service.
The SIU was authorised to investigate the tender following the signing of Proclamation of R. 7 of 2019 by President Cyril Ramaphosa. In line with the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act 74 of 1996, the SIU referred evidence pointing to a criminal action to the National Prosecuting Authority for further action.
The SIU has instituted a civil action in the Special Tribunal to review and set aside the contract. This will pave way for the State’s only anti-corruption, forensic investigation and civil litigation agency to recover financial losses suffered by the municipality due to negligence and corruption.
Fraud and corruption allegations may be reported via the following platforms: siu@hotline.co.za(link sends e-mail) / Hotline: 0800 037 774.
Source: Government of South Africa