A report into corruption in Mpumalanga’s Nkomazi municipality, covering a region near the Mozambique border, has recommended disciplinary action against five senior officials, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Simphiwe Kunene said the interim report into allegations of corruption has been presented to local government MEC Mohammed Bhabha and will be debated by the council in session as a matter of some urgency.
The report was commissioned by the MEC and drawn up by Ebony forensic investigators after allegations of wrongdoing were made in July this year.
Kunene said the report specifies that councillors breached the code of conduct, especially in the matter of appointing service providers without proper authority and the issuing of tenders without due observance of the municipal process.
Kunene said that, should the council decide to take disciplinary action, the next step would be taken according to the code of conduct for councillors, which prescribes the rules and penalties for unethical behaviour.
The report also recommended that municipal manager Simon Thani, who was suspended on full pay in July, should be reinstated.
The Nkomazi municipality embraces a large part of the former Transvaal Lowveld from Nelspruit to the Mozambique border at Malelane. — Sapa