Cape Town - The National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks are gunning for a number of officials in municipalities who are involved in corruption, with the police investigating more than 300 cases.
Some of the cases are already in court and others are still under investigation in more than 120 municipalities across the country.
NPA head, advocate Shamila Batohi said the findings by the Auditor-General in her report on municipalities paint a picture of endemic corruption in local government.
She said they will do their best to bring to book officials and other parties involved in corruption.
Head of the Hawks, Godfrey Lebeya told the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on cooperative governance on Tuesday that they were investigating 325 corruption cases from municipalities.
He said these cases were from 123 municipalities.
He said the majority of the cases the Hawks were investigating were in the North West where there were 64 cases.
Lebeya said in the Free State they were probing 60 corruption cases in those municipalities.
The Hawks chief said in the Eastern Cape there were 46 cases, in Gauteng 39 corruption cases, in Limpopo there were 30 cases and in Mpumalanga there were 35 corruption cases.
In KwaZulu-Natal they were investigating 19 cases and in the Western Cape there were 21 matters and in the Northern Cape there were only 11 cases under investigation.
Batohi said there was a need to arrest and prosecute those involved in corruption at local level.
“We certainly believe there is a need for accountability and that those plundering our municipalities are held accountable,” said Batohi.
She added that they work closely with the SAPS, Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit on corruption cases in municipalities.
She said they want these cases to be prosecuted speedily.
Batohi said the Auditor-General had shown in her report last week how endemic corruption was in local government.
“You will recall that, particularly dealing with issues in our municipalities, the Auditor-General made a presentation to Parliament on the 2021/22 financial year and made some very depressing findings and comments about the financial health of municipalities throughout the country that they are deteriorating.
“The Auditor-General made findings about root causes of the problems in many municipalities and the key ones she identified were governance failures and lack of accountability and consequence management, which is what our colleagues from the SIU also emphasised.
“The AG’s report called for the importance of strong and ethical leadership and high levels of good governance within municipalities that will create a culture that will foster trust and confidence in our local government, which at the moment is lacking,” said Batohi.
The head of investigations in the SIU Leonard Lekgetho said they have also referred some of the cases to the NPA for investigation.
This was from different municipalities in the country.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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