Probe confirms serious corruption in Bitou council

21 April 2006

A TOP-LEVEL probe by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has found there was serious corruption in the Bitou municipality and has recommended that criminal charges and civil action be brought against municipal manager George Seitisho and former mayor Euan Wildeman.
In a long-awaited report which was finally presented to the Western Cape Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) yesterday, the SIU stated that apart from criminal actions, there had also been a number of breaches of the codes of conduct of the Municipal Systems Act in Bitou.
The report was presented to Scopa by Western Cape Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi – four months after it was originally promised on December 19 following the SIU investigation which started two months earlier on October 19.
The SIU has recommended disciplinary measures against Seitisho and Wildeman, the referral to police of certain matters which its says constitute fraud and theft, as well as civil action against both officials.
Seitisho is currently chairman of the Municipal Managers Association of South Africa while Wildeman ended his term as mayor following the March 1 municipal elections, but was still re-elected to council.
The report’s recommendations, of which The Herald has a copy, comes after a long-running debacle over the Bitou council’s finances – which were the subject of hearings by Scopa last year following a critical report by the auditor-general for the 2003/4 financial year released almost a year ago.
The audit found that R122 000 in credit card expenses claimed by Seitisho and Wildeman on overseas trips were unsupported by any documentation. Wildeman later told Scopa that Seitisho had admitted misappropriating public funds, had apologised and had paid back the money.
However, at a subsequent hearing, new information revealed that a claim of almost R7 000 for car hire – which Seitisho had said was to transport workers at Kranshoek – was allegedly for a six-day trip to Gauteng for himself and his wife in a Mercedes Benz.
Among the SIU recommendations are that Seitisho be investigated by police for the unlawful use of a municipal credit card and petrol card to settle private expenditure – or the unlawful failure to disclose such use – as well as appointing a private company to render services to the municipality contrary to procurement procedure to the benefit of a business associate.
It has also been recommended that police investigate Seitisho for misrepresenting to the municipality that certain expenditure on a municipal credit card was incurred in the performance of his official duties.
The report recommended that Wildeman be investigated by the police for committing an offence in terms of the Municipal Management Finance Act through his use of a municipal credit card.
In also recommending disciplinary action against Wildeman, the SIU said: “He used the card to spend lavishly – allegedly on official entertainment – overseas without seeking the approval of the council or the municipality which had determined the allowances for the trip in the first place.”
Dyantyi’s media liaison officer, Vusi Tshose, said yesterday the MEC had told Scopa that he was in favour of all the report’s recommendations, with a single exception which dealt with a section of the Systems Act pertaining to jurisdiction in the matter.
In its response, the committee told Dyantyi that he needed to implement the recommendations.
Wildeman said yesterday he had not seen a copy of the report and would wait until he received a copy from current Bitou mayor Lulama Mvimbi. “I am not prepared to comment to the media at all on it (the report). I will wait until I receive a copy from my mayor and I will make my comment to him.”
Seitisho was in Johannesburg yesterday and could not be reached. Mvimbi was also unavailable.
Scopa member Yusuf Gabru said: “We support the SIU’s recommendations, but it must be implemented immediately and vigorously. Scopa are saying there must be no delays in charging people.”
DA MPL and the party’s provincial spokesman for the Southern Cape region, Alan Winde, said the DA had “relentlessly pursued” the matter of alleged corruption by Wildeman and Seitisho since May 2 last year when the DA received the AG’s report.
“After months of phone calls, promises, delays, unacknowledged letters, press conferences and even the DA laying criminal charges against the MEC, the SIU report has been released to the public and confirms the DA allegations of corruption against Wildeman and Seitisho.”

Source: The Herald

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