The troubled municipality is still sitting with a controversial report on its fruitless and wasteful expenditure. File picture
Cape Town - The Hawks and Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke have put a lid on a problematic contract in the Kannaland Municipality.
The troubled municipality is still sitting with a controversial report on its fruitless and wasteful expenditure, months after a related fraud case with the Hawks and an internal investigation were instituted.
The changes and recurrences in the appointment of municipal managers have also seen the contract being cancelled and reinstated.
Councillors appointed consultancy firm FTMG a few weeks before the 2021 municipal elections to conduct a phase 1 forensic probe into issues ranging from fruitless and wasteful expenditure and irregular expenditure to losses, supply chain management, and human resource deficiencies.
Phase 2 will focus on reviewing council policies with applicable frameworks. According to a council item, the outcome of the probe would be sent to the municipal manager. FTMG hadn’t responded to questions at the time of writing. Two phone calls on a listed number went straight to voicemail.
In November last year, the then municipal manager Ian Avontuur suspended the contract and all payments.
In December, councillors told another municipal manager, Keith Jordaan, to lift the suspension and extend the scope of the contract.
In the March 16 item, it was revealed that Jordaan, on January 10, 2023, told the municipality’s leadership that he couldn’t carry out the instruction as the contract was under investigation by the Hawks, and that the AG had identified that the company’s appointment was irregular.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za
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