Parliament, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) received a report yesterday at Parliament on the outcomes of forensic investigations that took place in the municipalities.

The investigations were conducted by the Special Investigative Unit (SIU); National Prosecuting Authority (NPA); Directorate for Priority Crimes (Hawks) and the Department of Cooperative Governance.
The Chairperson of the committee on (COGTA), Ms Faith Muthambi, raised concerns on the slow speed that is applied on the finalisation of these investigations.

“Whilst the law enforcement agencies are following their processes on these investigations, the people on the ground are becoming impatient, and are protesting regularly to show their impatience,” said Ms Muthambi.

She added: “We acknowledge that the NPA has been hard at work with 64 cases being reported to the committee. Thus far they have finalised 18 cases of municipal corruption, with 21 cases before court and a further 25 under investigation, however, we need to speed up the processes of bringing these investigations to finalisation sooner.”

One of these cases is the looting of VBS Mutual Bank. “It has been more than a year and there has been no criminal prosecutions to date. As much as R2,5 billion has been siphoned off involving more than 50 people, some of whom are municipal councillors and officials and therefore we call on the law enforcement agencies to act with speed, be methodical and thorough so that those implicated are brought to book,” added Ms Muthambi.

She said: “As the committee we are here to provide the support which is needed by the law enforcement agencies to do their work unhindered and we also want to say that where there is corruption at municipalities, we must root it out, as long as it is there, it means communities will not get the basic services that are due to them.” The committee will continue to engage and monitor the progress of the law enforcement agencies on a quarterly basis.

ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COGTA, MS FAITH MUTHAMBI.

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