Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance on Monday said it was going to lay new charges of graft against the municipal manager of eMalahleni.
“Today, 03 October 2016, DA caucus leader in the eMalahleni Local Council, Councillor Naritha Naidu, will lay new charges of fraud and corruption against eMalahleni Municipal Manager, Theo van Vuuren,” said a statement from the DA.
“This after it emerged that Van Vuuren allegedly manipulated the reference numbers of capital budget allocations in order to harvest funds for the mayor’s R1.5 million car.”
The DA said documents in their possession show that reference numbers of various service delivery grants do not match the reference numbers of the same projects in Van Vuuren’s proposal to council.
The DA said the anomaly indicates that someone may have tampered with the numbers presumably to make it harder for the money to be traced.
“Van Vuuren must be stopped in his tracks, this situation is appalling and it is happening under the watchful eye of the mayor. This abuse of taxpayer’s money is a clear indication that he does not put the needs of the poor first.”
Van Vuuren could not be immediately reached, but the DA said it would lay new charges of corruption at Witbank Police Station against him on Monday afternoon.
The DA said councillor Naidu will be accompanied by the political Head of eMalahleni Municipality Jane Sithole MPL when visiting the police station.
African News Agency