Cape Town to probe leak of De Lille report

Cape Town city council is spending R276‚000 in an attempt to find out who leaked the findings of a R3m investigation to TimesLIVE.

Forensic investigation company XTND has been given until the end of April to identify the source of a 2‚000-page document which recommended reporting former mayor Patricia de Lille to the police.

City manager Lungelo Mbandazayo has given the goahead to spend the money without going through supply chain management processes.

Mayoral committee members were told this week this was due to “exceptional circumstances where it is impractical or impossible to follow the official procurement process”.

Council speaker Dirk Smit said this was because XTND had already been appointed to probe other leaks related to Bowman Gilfillan’s investigation of alleged irregularities in the council.

An earlier report from the law firm was also leaked.

Under the headline “Explosive new report accuses De Lille’s administration of financial irregularities”‚ TimesLIVE revealed on October 22 last year that Bowman Gilfillan investigators claimed De Lille and former city manager Achmat Ebrahim had broken the law when they had failed to tell the council about irregular payments in 2015.