Durban - THE UGU District Municipality has ordered its internal audit unit to investigate allegations of ghost employees in the beleaguered council.
The municipality said it had sanctioned further investigation into the matter as some of the employees described as “ghost workers” were currently working for the council.
The announcement comes after an investigative report on the municipality’s affairs was tabled before the council last week.
The 236-page report, titled “Investigation of Fraud and Corruption at the Ugu Municipality”, prepared for the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) was tabled for discussion at a full council meeting last week.
The report called for cases of fraud to be opened with the police relating to some of the allegations.
It also recommended disciplinary action be taken against the municipal manager and other senior council officials for conduct ranging from financial misconduct and failure to honour fiduciary responsibilities to alleged flouting of supply chain management rules.
In the report, it was found that the municipality had paid a total of R162 8870.47 to ghost employees and that its staff complement was bloated by 21 employees.
Ugu mayor Sizwe Ngcobo said there were 13 allegations that were investigated by the report. Four of these were found to be untrue and two were sent back to Cogta for clarity.
He said they were concerned about the allegations of ghost employees and wanted further clarity from the internal audit unit. “The allegation is that there are ghost employees in the municipality. But one of the people listed is the supply chain manager who is implicated in the report, the same one who we have been recommended to take action against.
“Once the internal audit has clarified the matter, we will take action.”
Ngcobo said it was important for the council to satisfy itself that the allegations were true to avoid treating individuals unfairly who might then take legal action against the council.
“One of the is sues that most people talked about is that of the municipal manager.
“It is now clear that the allegations made personally against him were not true. He now has to account for where he is implicated as the municipality’s accounting officer,” he said.
IFP councillor Sifundo Ngwane said the party was not happy with how the council handled the matter.
“The mayor should have opened criminal cases after that meeting (last week) as the report recommended, but that did not happen.”
Ngwane added that the council had recommended that the municipal manager, who was also implicated in the report, write to it within seven days to give reasons why he should not be placed on suspension.
“But the municipal manager is still expected to discipline the other officials implicated while he faces charges, what is that? We fear nothing will come of this, this will be delayed to give the implicated officials a chance to resign without consequences,” said Ngwane.
Leonard Ngcobo, Ugu DA caucus leader, said the report’s recommendations must be implemented entirely without fear or favour. “All municipal officials in the employ of the institution implicated in the report must be suspended with immediate effect.”
The Mercury