Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor, Athol Trollip, said the NMB coalition government welcomes the announcement of a series of investigations by the Special Investigative Unit into country-wide corruption and irregularities.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday signed proclamations for SIU investigations into several Eastern Cape Municipalities.
In a statement Trollip said that Nelson Mandela Bay is one of the focus municipalities for the investigation, highlighting the severity of maladministration and corruption that prevailed under previous governments.
“The R8.18 billion of irregular expenditure, incurred by the previous government, noted in the AG’s 2016/17 Report must be the focus of this investigation,” he said.
“This massive amount of money was spent by previous administrations who failed to preserve relevant documentation necessary for its justification and regularisation. Year after year, pre-2016/17, the amount of irregular expenditure increased as former governments failed to investigate irregularities or implement the systems to ensure compliance.”
“In the short time that has passed since the beginning of this coalition government’s term, we have investigated and written off almost R9bn in irregular expenditure,” Trollip said.
He said the coalition government is rectifying and cleaning up the consequences of a legacy of fraud and graft, adding that there are new, corruption-proof systems in place, and any instance of fraud is handled with a zero-tolerance approach.
“The SIU must carry out its mandate and support this coalition government in its effort to clean up years of maladministration.”
“We are committed to working with any investigators and auditors in ensuring that every corrupt previous politician and official is brought to book,” Trollip said.
