Durban - President Jacob Zuma has ordered an investigation of the affairs of the Msunduzi Municipality, a move that has left opposition parties in the council “smelling a rat”.
The Presidency released a statement yesterday saying Zuma had signed a proclamation authorising the Special Investigating Unit to probe the municipality for, among other things, maladministration, misappropriation of funds and unlawful expenditure of public funds.
The investigation will be the fourth into the council’s affairs.
The municipality has already launched its own investigation.
The police are also investigating, and the MEC for co-operative governance is probing the municipality’s affairs.
Opposition parties say the latest move looks like decidedly more than an investigation of allegations of corruption.
The municipality, which received its first clean audit this year, six years after it was under administration and almost bankrupt, has come under intense scrutiny following the suspension of its highly regarded manager, Mxolisi Nkosi.
Nkosi was suspended earlier this month on allegations of financial impropriety, among others, a few months after he was recognised as the best municipal manager in KwaZulu-Natal.
Sources said his suspension was linked to allegations that he had lobbied for Premier Senzo Mchunu in the run-up to the ANC’s provincial conference last year, and was being targeted by the province’s new leadership.
The provincial secretary of the ANC, Super Zuma, has previously dismissed the claims.
“He (Nkosi) really committed a cardinal sin by campaigning for Mchunu... but what those behind the investigation do not realise is that this will leave almost everyone in this process muddied,” said a source, who declined to be named.
The proclamation authorises the SIU, among others, to investigate serious maladministration in connection with the affairs of the municipality; improper or unlawful conduct by councillors, officials or employees of the municipality; unlawful appropriation or expenditure of public money or property; any unlawful, irregular or unapproved acquisitive act, transaction, measure or practice having a bearing upon State property; intentional or negligent loss of public money or damage to public property; and unlawful or improper conduct, by any person, which has caused or may cause serious harm to the interests of the public.
Acting Msunduzi spokeswoman Nqobile Madonda said the municipality would co-operate with the investigation.
The IFP caucus leader in Msunduzi, Dolo Zondi, said his party was concerned.
“It seems that there is some other political agenda that is happening in the municipality beyond the allegations of corruption.
“What is so peculiar is that there has to be investigation upon investigation. There are so many issues of national importance and one wonders why a municipal issue has jumped so high to the presidency.
“This should have gone to the MEC, then to the premier,” he said.
DA leader Bill Lambert said his party welcomed any investigation that would give a free and clean government.
He warned against any action that might lead the municipality to slide back into financial problems.
Nkosi declined to comment yesterday, referring The Mercury to the statement released by the municipality.
ANC leaders were locked in a meeting until late on Wednesday night, and an official who answered Zuma’s phone said they were unable to comment as the meeting was likely to go on until midnight.
The Mercury