IPTS saga: Call corrupt officials to account

WITH reference to The Herald report, "Where's the IPTS money?" (September 5), the DA can confirm that we have received numerous detailed reports of suspicious activities and transactions related to expenditure items out of the IPTS grant funding provided. At a council meeting on August 14, the DA tabled a motion of exigency requesting an immediate forensic audit into the IPTS project, as well as the removal of deputy mayor Chippa Ngcolomba as the political head of the project.

The governing party in Nelson Mandela Bay refused to debate the motion as it closed ranks on what we described as the "biggest scandal ever to hit Nelson Mandela Bay". The information we received confidentially exposes the fact that millions of rands have been paid out to various companies in an irregular expenditure spending frenzy which runs far deeper than your report indicates.

The DA believes that there is prima facie evidence that the IPTS project is riddled with instances of fraud and corruption, and that the administration can no longer ignore our demands for a full forensic audit into this besieged project. Some of the mysterious IPTS transactions that must be investigated include:

ýAmounts totaling R28745860 paid to a prominent firm of attorneys in the metro. In terms of our supply chain management (SCM) regulations a municipal service provider has to be paid directly and not through a third party;

ýA company that was awarded a R4-million tender in 2010 for a contract unrelated to IPTS has been paid an astonishing R46-million to date in respect of this contract. An amount of R9895838 has been paid out of IPTS grant funding to this company;

ýRecent payments totaling R18946516 were made in respect of the Laphumilanga start-up project for IPTS, also paid to another prominent firm of attorneys in the metro. Although this item did appear on a council agenda, the matter was never discussed and has never been approved by council.

A senior DA caucus delegation met metro chief financial officer Trevor Harper on September 1 and raised these matters with him. We have asked for an investigation into and explanation for this expenditure, authorised by senior officials within the administration.

We trust that Harper, together with city manager Mpilo Mbambisa, will assist national Treasury with its investigations into this matter and that all political interference will be vigorously resisted. It is also critical that IPTS project leader Mhlele Tshamase is suspended with immediate effect pending the investigation and that council remove the deputy mayor as the political head of the project at its next sitting.

It is high time that corrupt officials and politicians be called to account and face the full might of the law.

Retief Odendaal, leader of the opposition, NMB