The Buffalo City Metro’s disciplinary board has recommended that action be taken against at least 23 current and former city officials in connection with the failed multimillion-rand Mdantsane swimming pool precinct.
They are suspected of possible involvement in corrupt activities and financial misconduct relating to the pool project.
The board believes disciplinary hearings could also lead to criminal cases being opened.
Disciplinary board chair Louis Vermaak recommended action after scrutinising a council-sanctioned EY forensic investigators’ report, which found that the implicated senior officials had a prima facie case to answer.
A confidential council report, tabled during last week’s special council meeting, revealed the board had found several former and current BCM administration bosses had cases to answer.
The pool precinct remains dysfunctional more than three decades after its closure.
Implicated officials include an unidentified city manager who was the accounting officer at the time of the project, a then-CFO, department heads, two general managers, 12 bid evaluation and adjudication committee members, a project manager, senior administrators and unidentified financial management unit officials.
The Vermaak report said four other metro officials should be taken to task for failing to declare a conflict of interest with some of the companies that benefited from the failed R71m project.
Vermaak also recommended that the council conduct “further investigations to determine who the accounting officer, chief financial officer, general manager of financial reporting, and other financial management officials were at the time of the irregularities”.
As the project took place between 2012 and 2024, different city officials occupied positions, a scenario Vermaak told the council his committee did not probe.
Just more than R22m was initially budgeted for the pool project, but costs dramatically escalated, with EY forensic investigators revealing that BCM had since pumped R56.9m into the project.
Late in 2025, the council approved an additional R14.5m for completion of the project, which takes the total cost to more than R71m.
Vermaak said the accounting officer at the time should be taken to task, as “no appropriate steps were taken to prevent wasteful expenditure as there were significant budget overrun and losses”.
Officials in the city’s finance department also needed to be taken to task, he said.
“The disciplinary board is of the opinion that sufficient evidence exists to make out prima facie cases of misconduct, inclusive of financial misconduct, as envisaged in the Municipal Finance Management Act.”
The disciplinary board is of the opinion that sufficient evidence exists to make out prima facie cases of misconduct, inclusive of financial misconduct, as envisaged in the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The EY forensic investigators’ report also recommended action be taken against implicated officials.
The “top secret” report showed that over the years, money was distributed to more than 60 companies, some of which had nothing to do with the NU2 pool upgrade, while investigators found money had also been paid to service providers “with close ties or links” to metro officials.
The EY report said more than R13.7m was paid to 46 service providers who had nothing to do with the pool project at all.
Vermaak’s report recommended the 46 service providers be investigated.
The EY probe found discrepancies in the procurement process, poor management, quality issues, financial discrepancies and concerns about the accuracy of financial reporting.
With law enforcement agencies trying to close the net on those responsible for the project’s problems, the Special Investigating Unit had also entered the fray, demanding a copy of the forensic report before it could approach President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign a proclamation to investigate the matter.
The Hawks had also raided metro offices in 2025 and removed documents relating to the stalled project, after the EFF in the council had opened a criminal case against metro administration bosses.
Metro spokesperson Bongani Fuzile refused to be drawn on Vermaak’s board report, saying it was confidential and could not be discussed outside council.
On Monday, DA councillor Geoff Walton said they welcomed Vermaak’s board recommendations “which indicate that there exists evidence to support proceeding with disciplinary hearings against the officials involved”.
“The DA was at all times of the view that there were irregularities in the process, and officials involved needed to be held to account through disciplinary action.
“The disciplinary board, having considered the documentation, supports matters proceeding to a disciplinary hearing.
“The board does not involve itself in the actual disciplinary hearing which is conducted at an administrative level.
“At this point, no official has been found guilty of anything.
“The hearings will proceed as per policy and the outcomes will flow from that.
“We draw no conclusions on what those outcomes may be.”
But Walton raised concerns that the board’s investigation did not come up with the names of implicated officials and recommended that BCM authorities first determine who they were.
“The fact that certain information may not have been provided to the disciplinary board is concerning.
“The names of the officials in the position of accounting officer, chief financial officer and relevant general managers over the period should have been provided to the board for completeness.
“However, we will await the outcome of the actual disciplinary hearings.”
EFF councillor Mziyanda Hlekiso said a thorough investigation was needed, and consequence management should be instituted against those implicated.
“There has to be a neutral body appointed by the council to further probe this matter and listen to all sides.
“Those found wanting must face the consequences, including possible criminal charges.”
In a subsequent debate on the report, council speaker Humprey Maxegwana said it was inexplicable that the disciplinary board did not provide the names of the implicated senior officials, since the metro’s legal unit head advocate Mlamli Zenzile was part of the board and had been in the municipal employ all that time.
In response, Zenzile said there had been a number of changes in the configuration of metro departments, “specifically pertaining to the Mdantsane swimming pool project”.
“There have been various project managers and also at an institutional level, recently there have been changes at general and senior management in the budget and treasury office, as well as changes of accounting officers.
“Hence we need a further investigation to determine exactly who was [involved] at a particular time of the project.
“It is not about the EY report only. We need to dig further to determine which officials were involved in the entire project.
“It’s not only about the appointed contractor, but goes back to a number of service providers who had been appointed on annual contracts, where variations were never authorised.
“This report is more complex, because you need to go to the actual transactions, and from that you generate allegations of financial misconduct directed at those implicated,” Zenzile said.
Daily Dispatch
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