The former municipal manager of Oudtshoorn Municipality has been sentenced to an effective five years behind bars for corruption.
The Oudtshoorn Regional Court convicted Martin Noël Pietersen of abusing R2 million of taxpayers’ money in December last year.
The Hawks welcomed the sentence in a statement on Wednesday. Western Cape acting head of the Hawks, Brigadier Neil Oliver said: “The ‘broom’ that is the Hawks shall continue to sweep clean any corruption related activities out of our municipalities”.
Pietersen was convicted on five charges relating to the contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act. Hawks spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha said it was a first in South Africa, under this act.
He said: “It was the state’s case that from October 2010 to June 2011, Pietersen misused his authority by arbitrarily authorising wasteful expenditure in favour of a business named and/or styled IBR Consultants. It was the state’s case that IBR Consultants was appointed under suspicious circumstances, without following due Supply Chain Management procedures, this resulted in the Municipality suffering losses of over R2-million”.
– African News Agency (ANA)
