Johannesburg – The City of Johannesburg has warned residents that services at some of its licensing centres would be affected following the arrest of several officials for fraud and corruption in a wide-ranging anti-graft clampdown.
This comes after Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba announced on Tuesday that four licensing department officials had been arrested for fraud and corruption following an investigation into syndicate fraud totalling more than R14 million.
So far, four officials from the Sandton licensing department and the Martindale bulk licensing department in Midrand have been arrested, while three others are expected to be apprehended soon.
Mashaba said at least 106 allegedly corrupt licensing centre officials would be arrested across the city's licensing centres in the coming days.
Mayoral Committee member for Public Safety, Michael Sun, said the licensing centre services would be affected by these arrests and urged the public to be patient.
"I request Joburg residents to please be patient during this time. I am certain that our residents will understand that this decisive action against corrupt officials is a positive step towards a cleaner and corrupt-free City of Johannesburg that is committed to serving the residents of our city," Sun said in a statement.
"We will do our best to ensure that we minimise the effect on service delivery over this period and we will work tirelessly to ensure a more efficient licensing service going forward."
The city's internal investigations unit had identified 972 allegedly fraudulent transactions with a total value of R14.7 million that occurred between January 2008 and February 2016.