No action has been taken against the former chairperson of the Ethekwini Metro council audit committee, Mdu Msomi, who was last year accused of attempting to cream R1-million off a legal settlement between the council and Rainbow Chickens.
Last June the Mail & Guardian revealed allegations that Msomi had approached Rainbow and indicated that the city was prepared to accept an offer of R6-million, provided R1-million of that was paid to an entity called the Singila Trust. The council was in dispute with Rainbow over a water bill and was claiming R12-million from the company.
When Rainbow asked the municipality’s lawyers to confirm this offer, the deal fell apart and the council launched an investigation.
However, nothing happened until the M&G reported on the matter (“Durban council probes R1m ‘fowl play’”, June 4), revealing also that Msomi’s family controlled the Singila Trust. Msomi resigned shortly before publication.
Significantly, Msomi could never have pulled off the deal without the assistance of council officials. He had no power to authorise a R5-million settlement of a R12-million debt. One claim made by Rainbow at the time was that, when challenged, Msomi told the company the matter was being sorted out “at a political level”.
Subsequent queries by the M&G about the investigation were met with a terse statement from council that the matter was “sub judice”.
Now, nearly a year later, the “comprehensive investigations” (Metro manager Mike Sutcliffe’s term) have been completed. The results indicate that no serious probe took place.
Nerusha Naidoo, head of council investigations, told the M&G her findings had confirmed the decision to terminate the services of Msomi because “Mr Msomi holding the position would fortify Rainbow’s position that Msomi had the authority to act on behalf of the municipality”.
This is legally irrelevant with regard to whether Msomi was authorised to approach Rainbow. According to Naidoo, there was “no evidence justifying that Mr Mdu Msomi be criminally investigated for corruptive activities”.
She claimed that Stephen Heath, the Rainbow official who raised the alarm, had been advised not to make a statement to the council as the matter was “sub judice”.
However, Heath told the M&G this was not correct. He said that shortly after the incident he had met council investigators and had made “a full statement”.
“I was asked if I would be prepared to give evidence at a hearing and I agreed … I had nothing to hide.
“Nearing the [civil] trial between Rainbow and the council we obviously did say that I could not talk to them, but that I would do [so] once the trial was over.
“Subsequent to the matter being settled I have on numerous occasions asked when there would be a hearing and when I would be needed to give evidence …”
Msomi declined to comment.