The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality will have to find about R4m in its budget to pay for the Special Investigating Unit to investigate all the money spent in the city on the events leading up to former president Nelson Mandela’s funeral.
The municipality is one of eight institutions in the Eastern Cape to be investigated by the unit for the allocation of money and procuring of goods and services related to the 2013 funeral.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) Act states that the institution under investigation is liable for the costs of the probe, which it anticipates will be in the region of R4.1m.
The municipality spent R6.23m on the provincial memorial service at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
About R1.85m was spent on T-shirts and catering for Madiba’s provincial memorial service in 2013, which the auditor general said was irregular expenditure.
The irregular spending occurred even though the national Treasury made it clear at the time that the costs associated with the memorial services should not include T-shirts and catering.
Then-mayor Ben Fihla’s office was responsible for all spending on the service.
In May, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed off on a proclamation to allow the unit to launch the investigations.
The investigation is expected to be completed by June 2019.
Among the things to be investigated are the procurement of contracting goods, works or services by the institution in relation to the funeral, and payments made. It will also probe any related unauthorised, irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by any organ of the state.
The Bay mayoral committee on Friday noted the report and agreed to have the city manager work with the budget department to secure R4.1m for the investigation.
In a letter to the municipality, the unit’s head, advocate Jan Mothibi, wrote that the city must co-operate fully with the investigation.
The unit would then refer all evidence to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
“The SIU will institute and conduct civil proceedings in order to give effect to its recommendations, [thereafter] submit a final report to the president,” Mothibi wrote.
The letter of engagement was signed off by mayor Mongameli Bobani last month, agreeing to co-operate.