Cape Town - George municipal manager Trevor Botha and former mayor Melvin Naik have sworn to defend themselves against corruption charges brought by the Hawks.
In separate statements, Botha and Naik maintained their innocence of the charges and said they would appear in court on October 9 with their lawyers.
Hawks spokesperson Philani Nkwalase said: “The Hawks serious commercial investigation team has served five suspects linked to the George municipality with court summons to appear at the local magistrate's court on charges of fraud, corruption and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“Naik allegedly offered work to a company on a planned project long before it was formally registered with the municipality.
"Naik further colluded with Botha and a senior officer within the community services department of the municipality and appointed other associated companies to do work under the War on Waste project in 2017,” said Nkwalase.
“These service providers allegedly received payments long before the project was formally registered or a project budget allocation was made. About R9million was paid between May and December 2017.
“The matter was reported to the Hawks in 2018 after one of the company's directors reported fraudulent and corrupt behaviour of the official.”
In his statement Naik said he welcomed the chance to put the allegations against him “to bed once and for all”.
“One thing I am happy about is that these faceless and spineless people, some of whom are on the current council’s leadership, will have to come forward to try and prove their claims beyond the shadow of a doubt,” said Naik.
“For too long my name has been dragged through the mud for political gain by my opponents.”
Botha said allegations that he received money were “utter lies”.
“I have appointed a lawyer and will defend these baseless allegations in court. The aggrieved person making the allegations did not tender for the cleaning and garbage removal project and was therefore not eligible,” said Botha.
Current George mayor Leon van Wyk said an internal disciplinary process had been under way for some time and that a report “is due to be finalised any day now”.
“In September 2019, Local Government MEC Anton Bredell launched a forensic investigation into the allegations. The findings and recommendations from the MEC’s report were tabled and referred by the George council for a disciplinary investigation earlier this year by an independent professional firm,” said Van Wyk.
“This will determine the disciplinary action to follow in dealing with the employment relationship between the officials and the municipality, as distinct from the criminal investigation undertaken separately."
Cape Argus