Cape Town – Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s office has launched investigations into the City of Cape Town and George municipalities following complaints of alleged corruption made by the Good Party.
Mkhwebane’s probe comes as the City has been dealt several court blows over the use of public land and the lack of housing.
Mkhwebane’s spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said the public protector was investigating three matters.
“The first two involve alleged delays to dispose of municipal-owned land with return clauses and for housing purposes by the City of Cape Town. Both matters are works in progress.
“The last has to do with alleged abuse of power by the George Municipality regarding improper/unauthorised investment of municipal funds. Here too investigations are under way,” Segalwe said.
Good Party secretary-general Brett Herron said complaints were submitted earlier this year.
“I submitted three interconnected complaints to the Public Protector about the City’s disposal of public land and the manipulation of the valuation system to undervalue high-value land sold to private developers, exaggerated value of land identified for social housing purposes and the secret sale of a reversionary clause which effectively transferred a high-value property to a private developer without considering whether it could be used for a public purpose.
“This methodology for disposing of land prejudices the public since this is public land which must first be considered for use for public purposes before being regarded as ‘surplus to needs’ and sold off – as we have just learnt from the Tafelberg court judgment. These complaints were lodged in April 2019 with a follow-up in July 2019 regarding the under and over valuations,” he said.
The City said it was engaging with the public protector’s office on two matters that appear to be related. “In the first, the complaint was received on July 14, 2020. The City’s investigation is however complete and a response has been provided to the Public Protector’s Office on September 14, 2020.
“In the second, the complaint was received on September 21, 2020, and a deadline of October 21, 2020 was imposed. This investigation is under way and all due process is being followed. The City adheres to the provisions of the Municipal Finance Management Act.”
George municipal manager Trevor Botha said the municipality as an institution had not acted improperly, however, an internal prescribed disciplinary process with regards to an employee allegedly acting improperly had been followed.
“The municipality cannot provide further comment as the matter is within the legal domain at present.”
Last week, Local Government MEC Anton Bredell said the DA welcomed the public protector’s investigation. “Corruption is wrong and the DA will always act against corruption. It doesn’t matter who is involved,” he said.
ANC deputy chief whip in the provincial legislature, Khalid Sayed, said the ANC followed the serious complaints with interest.