Two days after her birthday, controversial Durban mayor Zandile Gumede found herself sitting in the dock at the Durban Commercial Crimes Court where she is facing charges of fraud and corruption relating to the R208m Durban Solid Waste tender awarded in 2016.
Gumede, who celebrated her 58th birthday on Sunday, appeared alongside eThekwini councillor Mondli Mthembu, who is the chair of the infrastructure committee, and a service provider, Craig Ponnan of El Shaddai Holdings, amid a heavy security presence on Tuesday.
Gumede and her two accused were granted R50,000 bail each with stringent conditions by magistrate Dawn Soomaroo.
Bail conditions for Gumede and Mthembu prohibit them from communicating with municipal officials and employees from the city's finance division, as well as with officials of Durban Solid Waste and the city's supply management division.
They may also not interfere with the functions and operations of the city and must refrain from accessing information or reports relating to the investigation or to take part in disciplinary action against officials facing charges relating to similar investigations.
It emerged that Gumede’s arrest and that of the two suspects had to be brought forward due to the intimidation of witnesses.
Gumede and Mthembu are accused of playing a major role in the awarding of tenders and influencing the appointment of service providers. It was also alleged that the city’s bid adjudication committees were instructed by Gumede and Mthembu which companies were to be awarded tenders.
Gumede is accused of instigating a march to the city hall in April, when demonstrators demanded the removal of city manager Sipho Nzuza, who was considered to be a stumbling block in the awarding of tenders.
The three suspects were arrested as part of a Hawks investigation into the Durban Solid Waste tender in which service providers were allegedly paid huge amounts of money even though they did not render services.
Their arrests followed that of nine senior eThekwini municipality officials and service providers two weeks ago in connection with the same tender. The nine are Ethekwini municipality deputy head of strategy and new development Robert Abbu, 62, supply chain manager Sandile Ngcobo, 41, Hlenga Sibisi, 43, Mzwandile Dludla, 24, Sinthamone Ponnan, 55, Sithulele Mkhize, 38, Bongani Dlomo, 53, and Prabagaram Pariah, 61. They are all due in court again on August 8.
There was speculation that Gumede would be arrested before the May 8 general election but that a deal was struck with the Hawks to delay her arrest as it would have tarnished the image of the ANC before the poll. But this was denied by Hawks spokesman Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi outside the court on Tuesday.
“I don’t know where the deal is coming from and I think it’s neither there nor here. We deal with investigations and I think what is critical as well, we need to make sure that the prosecutors that we’re working with, we arm them with information. For us to rush investigations will compromise everything. So the issues of elections or no elections don’t feature,” he said.
The eThekwini municipality issued a short statement after Gumede’s and Mthembu’s court appearance, saying it “abides by the legal principle of innocent until proven otherwise”, and assured residents that this matter would not affect service delivery.
Allegations that Gumede facilitated money laundering, fraud and corruption to grease cronies’ palms first surfaced in May 2018 after it emerged that she was under investigation by the Hawks.
It followed a report by City Press that a forensic report, which informed the Hawks’ investigation, found that Gumede summoned a municipal official to her home to demand that a R25m tender go to hand-picked companies. The report stated that these companies may have belonged “to councillors and political figures that had supported Gumede in her political endeavours and that councillor Gumede owed them a token of gratitude in the form of contracts from eThekwini”.
The report, compiled by Integrity Forensic Solutions, named Gumede, Mthembu and three other officials for allegedly orchestrating a corruption and “money-laundering scam”. The alleged scam involved eThekwini paying R25m to hire about 800 chemical toilets for six months. Before this, the city had for three years paid about R3m to hire toilets.
Gumede quickly convened a media briefing after the publication of the story in City Press and vehemently denied the allegations. She insisted that her administration would “drive a corruption-free city” and added that eThekwini had a zero-tolerance stance on all forms of corruption, fraud and maladministration.
This was despite the fact that auditor-general Kimi Makwethu was forced to pull his staff out of the municipality’s offices after they received death threats while conducting an audit of the city’s finances.
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