During proceedings at the Durban High Court yesterday, it emerged that the number of houses requiring waste collection in December 2017 had doubled. Furthermore, the audit report supporting this figure may have been inaccurate.

The Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender fraud case involves former eThekwini Municipality mayor Zandile Gumede, who is one of the 21 accused. They face multiple charges, including fraud, racketeering, corruption, money laundering, and violations of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Systems Act, all related to the R320 million DSW tender.

A state witness, who worked at the solid waste unit in 2017, compared the number of households requiring waste services as reflected in the closed tender drafted in December 2017 with the number indicated in the audit report.

She noticed a significant difference of 86,431 households between the tender and the audit report. Allan Robert Abbu, the fourth accused, was the deputy head of the Solid Waste Unit at that time.

The witness, who cannot be named due to court instructions, stated that the number of households reflected in the tender’s bid specifications was drawn from an audit report.

The audit report is compiled using various methods, including field sheets and aerial photographs of areas needing waste collection services. In her evidence-in-chief, the witness mentioned that she could not explain the source of the additional numbers.

The defence challenged the State’s assertion that Abbu dictated these additional numbers to a contract administrator who drafted the December tender document.

Advocate Jay Naidoo SC, counsel for Abbu, pointed out that the contract administrator who testified did not support this claim.

During his cross-examination, Naidoo, who also represents Gumede, examined the audit report with the witness. He read a page that included a declaration made by the auditors, highlighting a column labelled “Accuracy and Validity Risk.”

Naidoo quoted, “Data on the measurement/payment certificates indicating the percentage of households with access to a basic level of solid waste removal may be invalid or inaccurate.”

He then asked the witness what this meant. The witness confirmed that the report was compiled by the city’s internal auditors and noted that the aerial photographs used were taken in 2011. The trial continues.

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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