By Fatima Schroeder and Nazma Dreyer
A micro-finance company has admitted in a plea bargain accepted by the Cape High Court that it bribed councillor Kent Morkel, Democratic Alliance (DA) chairperson in the Western Cape.
And the Scorpions say they are poised to make several arrests in their investigation into suspected corruption involving millions of rand.
Morkel and 33 officials of the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), a key affiliate of the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), have been implicated.
Morkel denies guilt, while the DA says he'll be suspended once arrested and expelled if found guilty.
Samwu supported the plea bargain, saying it was determined to get rid of corrupt officials.
Morkel, a son of former Western Cape premier Gerald Morkel, was elected DA Western Cape chairman in October and heads the party's 70-member caucus in the City of Cape Town.
Gems, the micro-finance company, is a subsidiary of a subsidiary of African Bank Investments and provided loans mostly to municipal employees across SA.
Municipalities granted access to their payroll systems for only one micro-finance provider to each union.
For this reason, Samwu appointed another company as its provider, significantly cheaper than Gems.
Under the plea agreement accepted by the court, Gems admitted approaching Morkel to use his power and influence to promote the services of the company through his co-councillors and politicians.
It says he agreed to secure stop orders in favour of the company from municipal employees' salaries in return for R10 000.
He also had to ensure the continuation of the stop order facilities.
Thirty-three Samwu officials also accepted bribes, including cellphones, airtime, entertainment and car usage to secure such stop orders across the country and to ensure they were not cancelled. They are no longer employed by the union.
Under a plea bargain with the state before Justice Siraj Desai on Wednesday, Gems admitted to committing the offences. It pleaded guilty to two counts of corruption and agreed to pay a fine of R5 million.
The company also agreed to a confiscation order providing for the compensation of municipal workers who took loans from Gems.
The claims from those who took loans could amount to R60-million.
Under the order, Gems has to attempt to make contact with customers and provide them with consent letters.
Each of the customers who signed the consent letter has to be compensated by the end of 12 months.
In a statement assets forfeiture unit and Scorpions spokesman Sipho Ngwema said the Scorpions would take action against those implicated in the offences "within the next few days".
Morkel said: "I believe I'm totally innocent. No charge was laid against me. I don't know how I was implicated in this case."
DA federal council chairperson James Selfe said: "While every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, any public representative of the party arrested for a serious criminal offence - including bribery and corruption would be suspended, and if found guilty, expelled.
"Mr Kent Morkel has not been arrested or charged. If he were to be arrested, the applicable decision of the federal executive would be operative."
Samwu national general secretary Roger Ronnie said the matter had been the subject of an internal investigation since 2000 and action had been taken against certain officials.
Said Ronnie: "This court ruling vindicated the stance we have taken all along and that is to ensure that the union is cleared of any corrupt individuals and will always continue to act in the best interest of its members, even in the face of such challenges.
"It is unfortunate that it leads to members being disadvantaged, but hopefully the terms of this judgment will bring some relief to members and serve as a lesson to others contemplating a similar route."