The number of households in Durban that needed waste refuse collection services during the 2017 period was doubled to approximately 90,000; however, it’s not clear where the additional numbers that were on a bid specification for the tender of waste collection in December 2017 came from. 

This was learned by the Durban High Court on Tuesday at the R320 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) fraud case involving eThekwini former mayor Zandile Gumede and 21 others.

The accused persons are facing multiple counts of fraud, racketeering, corruption, money laundering, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act, and the Municipal Systems Act, relating to the DSW tender. 

As the State witness, who cannot be named, was leading her evidence in chief, Counsel appointed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), advocate Viwe Notshe SC, asked her to compare the number of households that were in the quarter one audit report, the tender advertised in November 2017, and the one advertised in December 2017.

Waste collection was the subject of both tenders. The December tender was closed, while the November one was open. The audit report covered the period of July through September 2017.

The witness who worked from the DSW unit said there were 152 discrepancies between the audit report and the open tender for November. 

“The number of households is less than that in the audit report,” she explained. 

She said the difference in the number of households between the audit report and the December tender was 86,279. She further compared the number of households between the November tender advertised and the one advertised in December, and she said the difference was 86,431. 

The witness stated that normally, the number of households used in the tender invites comes from the audit report, which is compiled using municipal data, reflecting the number of households and areas serviced for waste collection.

“Do you know where the difference came from?” Notshe asked. 

The witness replied by saying she has no idea. She said she was not involved in the report drafted in December. “So I am not in a position to explain where these numbers came from,” the witness said. 

On Monday, the State put a proposition to this witness that the household numbers in the December 2017 tender invite were provided by Allan Robert Abbu to a contract administrator who was drafting the December tender on his instructions. Abbu is the fourth accused, and at the time, he was the deputy head of DSW. 

However, advocate Jay Naidoo SC, representing Abbu, disputed this, saying that the contract administrator told the court that Abbu had given her a document that had household numbers, and he never dictated any numbers to her.

He said he would like the State to point him to that evidence. The contract administrator finished her testimony earlier this year. 

The trial continues. 

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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