The FF Plus insists that the 20 former Tshwane Metro officials who are implicated in irregularities during their tenure at the Metro may not get off scot-free.
According to a report tabled to the Metro Council, the Metro’s Financial Disciplinary Board investigated 33 cases amounting to billions of rand in which 55 officials are implicated.
Meanwhile, 20 of these officials have left the Metro’s employ and disciplinary steps cannot be taken against them.
The party recommends that the Metro should criminally prosecute these officials for unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure between 2014 and 2021.
The FF Plus’s recommendation will reference a decision by the Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein which found that six former officials of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro must repay the money for expenses incurred with the allocation of an unlawful contract.
Like those of Tshwane, these six officials had already left the employ of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
Another three cases have already lapsed and in two cases there was insufficient evidence to take further steps.
The report also mentioned another five cases where irregular and wasteful expenditure was reported. It was recommended that R628 839 778 be written off as irregular expenditure.
It was also recommended that approximately R35 million should be recovered from service providers, officials and former officials. Criminal cases of theft and fraud have already been lodged with the police.
The FF Plus insists that the officials, service providers or councillors involved in these offences should be held accountable.
The FF Plus will disclose more information on the cases to the community over the course of the next few weeks.
