George mayor's War on Waste raked in illicit profits for pals

DA initiates probe which reveals host of transgressions in Eastern Cape municipality – which NPA has ignored

- Susan Puren

It reads like the plot of a crime novel; here we have a picturesque South African town nestling against the backdrop of a majestic mountain range, bordered by ancient yellowwood forests and endless white sandy beaches on the Indian Ocean. Yet this pleasant town conceals a dark underbelly of corruption, where the main accused is none other than the mayor – who denies any wrongdoing.

In true South African style, residents on both sides of the railway track (there really is one running through town) are incensed at the allegations, along with the thinly disguised racial friction, discrimination, BEE and its counterpart WMC.

Then the A-Team arrives in town and, without further ado, seizes the mayor’s phone and car tracking records. These reveal that the first citizen is not only a liar he is also corrupt. Obvious next question: is he a lone ranger? According to the script, no – but there are still a few more pages to be written.

Welcome to George Municipality where the Democratic Alliance has been trying for months to purge itself of fraud, theft, corruption, maladministration, malpractice, undue influence, nepotism, irregular appointments and inflated payments made to service providers.

The latest municipal project under scrutiny is War-on-Waste (WoW), which promised to provide employment through the government’s Expanded Public Works Programme.

The Hawks investigated WoW in 2018 and the results were handed to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) almost a year ago.

With no further action taken by the NPA, Western Cape MEC for Local Government Anton Bredell appointed forensic investigators Anthony Botha and Annelita Mentoor to conduct a further investigation.