Two senior Bitou municipal officials placed on 10 days’ special leave after being accused of demanding bribes in a R33.5m housing contract, have denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations are a fabrication.
Municipal manager Lonwabo Ngoqo and community services director Thozamile Sompani were placed on special leave on Thursday by acting mayor Sandiso Gcabayi.
The decision was taken in the light of an affidavit that alleged corruption in a case that has since been withdrawn in a civil court by the complainant.
The two had been accused by Dr Anele Hammond of demanding bribes in relation to the awarding of the contract the construction of 169 houses in Qolweni, Plettenberg Bay.
The contract had been ceded to Hammond after it became clear that the initial beneficiary lacked the resources to undertake the project.
The housing project has been marred by controversy, with allegations of corruption and residents taking to the streets demanding the houses be built after it stalled.
Hammond and Hammond Law Clinic took the municipality to court on behalf of Hammond after the municipality cancelled the contract in April.
In an affidavit submitted to the high court, Hammond alleged that Sompani had requested an upfront bribe of R700,000, to be paid to former mayor Peter Lobese, Sompani, ANC chief whip Mpakamisi Mbali, an unnamed CFO and Ngoqo.
Ngoqo, Lobese, Mbali and Sompani denied the allegations.
“To me everything contained in that affidavit is lies,” Lobese said.
Mbali said: “I have never even met that lady.”
Ngoqo said: “We have been put on special leave [though] the matter was withdrawn.
“The allegations are not true, they are a lie and all the allegations in that [affidavit] are not true.
“If they are true why has she not opened a criminal case against me?”
Gcabayi said a special council meeting would be convened within 10 days to discuss Ngoqo and Sompani’s fate.
Though Sompani vowed to take legal action to clear his name, Ngoqo said he would first clear his name internally before consulting with his lawyer on what action to take next.
Sompani said Hammond had been awarded the housing contract in January, but by April her company had not done any construction work.
Sompani claimed Hammond had failed to build houses despite being on site for four months.
“They were given a notice for 10 days which expired on April 12 and then their contract was terminated ... that is when the whole hullabaloo started,” he said.
“The whole story [bribery allegation] has been fabricated.”
Hammond said she had withdrawn her civil case because it would not have benefited Qolweni residents, saying she did not care who built the houses.
In a letter sent to Bitou councillors on Friday, which the Weekend Post has seen, Hammond said she wanted to expose wrongdoing.
“This was a corruption issue disguised as a contractual issue [and] my main reason for instituting the civil case was to lift that veil and show the truth which was fulfilled by the NPA’s intervention.
“I decided to focus on the criminal avenue of the case which I am pursuing.
“Prolonging the civil case would further delay the building of houses in Qolweni, prejudicing the community for no benefit,” she said.
On them being on the site for four months without constructing anything, Hammond said that allegation hurt her deeply.
“We inherited a site that was full of shacks with residents still living in them.
“We had to first find a place to build new shacks, then build ablution services, then move the families to the new shacks, then demolish the shacks.
“This could not happen at the same time, because the infill sites were spread all over the place,” she said.
Gcabayi said the council had to act because the allegations were serious.
“When officials are implicated, even if there are no criminal charges laid against them, internally we must do something because the perception is out there.
“So as a municipality we are obligated to do that and with my powers I had to [ place them on special leave because] we will be asked what we have done [about the allegations].
“I have [placed] them on special leave for 10 days and within the 10 days I will be calling a council meeting as it is only council that can suspend them,” he said.
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