The City’s Integrity and Investigations Unit in the eThekwini Municipality is sounding the alarm about the criminal conduct of some of the City’s employees, warning that it could bankrupt the municipality.

Head of the Unit, Jimmy Ngcobo, is concerned about the pervasive theft of municipal assets, specifically diesel. This comes after municipal staff were caught stealing diesel from a municipal water tanker this week.

Chairperson of the Trading Services committee, which is responsible for the tankers, Mdu Nkosi, stated that this was the second incident this year that he had become aware of, noting that such incidents impacted on the budget to deliver services.

In recent months, several City workers have been caught siphoning diesel from municipal vehicles to sell it off. Last month, it was reported that two municipal employees were arrested after they were caught stealing diesel meant for municipal operations.

The City confirmed that the arrests were made in eKukhanyeni, near Verulam, after investigators followed up on reports of suspicious activity involving municipal water trucks.

One municipal water truck was caught offloading diesel at a private residence, while another was parked next to the gate of the same residence. Both trucks were reportedly carrying water intended for delivery to communities.

Five months ago, it was also reported that the municipality’s water tanker deliveries had been halted due to a diesel shortage at the Ottawa Depot. The two individuals caught this week were arrested in the uMbumbulu area. Ngcobo said some employees were on a mission to bankrupt the municipality. A criminal case of diesel theft was opened at the uMbumbulu police station and the suspects have appeared in court.

“The culprits were found in a private house offloading diesel. It is clear that they have been frequenting this private house. There were containers full of diesel that were confiscated and handed over to police for evidence,” said Ngcobo.

“The diesel is resold for R400 per container to a local truck owner. The culprits offered a R50 000 bribe, which was turned down,” Ngcobo added. He noted that the two men were identified as a water tanker driver and a ward committee member.

Ngcobo commended the community for reporting such acts, stating that the investigations and arrests would not have been successful without their input.

“We are dealing with fraud and corruption activities, and we are in pursuit of other culprits. This is a misuse of municipal resources,” said Ngcobo. Nkosi said incidents continued to occur because there were no serious consequences when individuals were caught.

“I have asked the management of the unit to keep me updated on what is happening with this case; we cannot let it die. And what has happened to the people who did similar things in the past? This behaviour is only occurring with trucks that are owned by the municipality, which tells us it is the municipal staff that are behaving like this,” Nkosi said.

He added that the managers in the depots should also take responsibility. “They should be able to tell that the rate at which a tanker is filling up diesel is abnormal and is not corresponding with the kilometres it has travelled. That tells me that these managers are also not doing their jobs.”

Nkosi highlighted that this was affecting service delivery. “This means that a truck that is supposed to deliver water to uMbumbulu twice is now doing it once because they have sold diesel and are waiting to load more again the following day, which is why you hear complaints that people are not getting water.” Other municipalities have been affected by similar incidents. Last year, it was reported that two Msunduzi Municipality workers were arrested for alleged theft of municipal fuel.

THE MERCURY

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