City of Cape Town Launches Anti-Corruption Hotline, statement by Mayor Helen Zille

The toll-free hotline 0800 32 31 30 will allow City employees, business people, and the citizens of Cape Town a way to blow the whistle on corruption while remaining totally anonymous.

In the previous financial year in Cape Town alone, the City recorded R330 million in unauthorised or irregular spending, much of which is suspected to have been lost through alleged fraudulent activity.

The City has already embarked on several forensic audits to investigate suspect multi-million rand contracts.

However, as in any large organisation, there are hundreds of unseen, corrupt actions that may seem relatively insignificant, but that create a huge drain on our budgets.

Let me give you some examples of less well-known corruption cases of the kind that the City hopes to combat through the anti-corruption hotline.

Last year a cashier misappropriated an amount of R68,000.00 of money that was supposed to be paid into the Municipal account. Instead, she issued fraudulent receipts and kept the money.

When the ratepayers started querying their accounts, the cashier was exposed and was dismissed after a disciplinary hearing. She was also charged in a criminal court of law and upon her conviction the court ordered that she repay the full amount to the City of Cape Town.

In another case, staff in the Roads and Stormwater Department were caught after siphoning diesel from Council vehicles over a period of 18 months. Information was received from three very young members of the community who exposed the irregular actions of these staff members. The matter was investigated and 11 staff members were dismissed after a lengthy disciplinary hearing. The criminal case is still pending against 14 people and if convicted, the City will attempt to recover R186, 000.00.

Siphoning fuel is one case of petty theft that can add up to major theft when many are doing it over a period of time. Another drain on Council resources is the misuse of Council material by staff for their own personal use. For example, a case was recently reported where staff took a bribe to use road tarring equipment to repair a private driveway.

To give you some cases of larger scale corruption, last year the City's fleet division entered into contracts for heavy plant hire with four companies operating as fronts for a syndicate that defrauded the City of approximately R12 million. A criminal case was registered. So far two City officials have resigned ahead of disciplinary hearings, one staff member was dismissed and another took early retirement prior to a disciplinary hearing.

One of the "owners" of the front company involved in the aforesaid matter has signed an acknowledgment of debt in favour of the City to the approximate value of R1.6 million.

A similar incidence of fronting also occurred in relation to a tender for construction work for a contract worth R20 823 692.00. We will not let that matter rest.

And finally, information that a contract for a recent 'Moral Regeneration Youth Festival' was corruptly awarded to a company owned by the son of the City official responsible for managing the project have resulted in prosecution and the resignation of the official.

There are, of course, many other cases like this in the Cape Town administration and in government organisations around the country.

We want to clean this city up.

We urge businesses, City staff, and the people of Cape Town, to use the Anti-Corruption hotline and help us stop corruption, no matter how small the case may be.

Issued by:
Directorate: Communication and Marketing
City of Cape Town
Tel: 021 400 2201
Fax: 021 957 0023

Media queries:
Mayor Helen Zille
Tel: 021 400 1300

Achmat Ebrahim
City Manager - City of Cape Town
Tel: 021 400 1330

Lungelo Mbandazayo
Director: Legal Strategy - City of Cape Town
Tel: 021 400 2151

Arno Vorster
Manager: Supply Chain Management - City of Cape Town
Tel: 021 400 1268