Witness in Zandile Gumede trial questioned about irregular expenditure

IN THE R320-million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender-fraud case involving former eThekwini municipality mayor, Zandile Gumede, a State witness has told the Durban High Court that she would prefer not to have a pile of rubbish picked up than to deal with irregular expenses for not following due process.

- NOMONDE ZONDI

The witness, who cannot be named as per a court order, was cross-examined yesterday by advocate Jimmy Howse SC, the counsel for Sandile Ngcobo, accused number five, who was a deputy head of supply chain management (SCM) in eThekwini.

Gumede, Ngcobo, and 20 others are facing numerous charges, including money laundering, racketeering, fraud, corruption, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act relating to the tender.

The witness told the court that waste collection was not an emergency, but a critical service.

The court has heard that the DSW unit had sought authority in December 2017 to get experienced service providers to collect waste from January 2018. This was because the contract of service providers were due to expire on December 31, 2017.

In November 2017, the unit advertised a tender for waste collection, but they claimed that they received many submissions and needed extra time to examine all of the proposals.