The Witness: "Fiery farewell to Harwin’s Arcade"
“NOT just a building, but a place where life happened.”
8 years ago
Friday, July 31, 2009
Another Colonial Building burned down in Pietermmaritzburg
The Witness: "Fiery farewell to Harwin’s Arcade"
“NOT just a building, but a place where life happened.”
Truely the City of Filth
The Witness: "Plagued by litter"
I LIVE in a “smart” suburb of a provincial capital, about 200 metres from the front gate of the premier’s official residence. My home is opposite a girls’ school, which styles itself as offering “quality education”, and just another half kilometre away is an exclusive boys’ school, which has marked its elitism with high walls and spiked fencing. Yet, I reside in one of the filthiest neighbourhoods.
I LIVE in a “smart” suburb of a provincial capital, about 200 metres from the front gate of the premier’s official residence. My home is opposite a girls’ school, which styles itself as offering “quality education”, and just another half kilometre away is an exclusive boys’ school, which has marked its elitism with high walls and spiked fencing. Yet, I reside in one of the filthiest neighbourhoods.
Friday, July 17, 2009
"Council backs R200-mln flop"
"Council backs R200-mln flop"
CONTROVERSY surrounds the Msunduzi Municipality’s decision to go ahead with a meter reading system that costs more than R240million and which was ultimately suspended in Port Elizabeth, allegedly because it was problematic.
http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=25161
CONTROVERSY surrounds the Msunduzi Municipality’s decision to go ahead with a meter reading system that costs more than R240million and which was ultimately suspended in Port Elizabeth, allegedly because it was problematic.
http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=25161
R1 mln council fund ‘hijack’
06 Jul 2009
Sanelisiwe Shamase
HIGH-RANKING officials of the Msunduzi Municipality are set to be investigated after being implicatedin an alleged scam in which they apparently misappropriated more than R1 million in council funds.
The Witness has evidence that municipal manager Rob Haswell, speaker Alpha Shelembe and deputy municipal manager for finance Roy Bridgmohan allegedly by-passed the municipality’s proper procurement process in order to secure R1067119 to finance an African National Congress rally in January.
According to sources, Haswell, Shelembe and Bridgmohan were approached by the regional ANC and asked to help raise funds for an ANC provincial rally that was set to take place on January 18.
Instead of embarking on fund-raising ventures, the sources allege, the three conspired to obtain the funds from the municipality.
Shelembe was given the task of engineering requests for a cultural event called “the Nkosi Mlaba Cultural Day” to be used as a cover, the sources said.
This event was scheduled to take place on January 18, but the authorised payments for the event were allegedly obtained only on January 19.
As far as The Witness can establish, there is no evidence to prove that the cultural event actually took place.
A booking sheet for The Oval, where this event was meant to take place, states that this venue had been booked on January 18 for use by the Midlands Cricket Association.
However, another significant event did occur on January 18 — the ANC provincial rally at Qokololo Stadium in Edendale. It was attended by more than 50?000 people, including national Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale.
A firm was allegedly paid R497?860 to provide sound, tables, chairs, marquees and a stage at the rally, while another firm was allegedly paid R569?259 for T-shirts, caps, calendars, diaries and paper bags. The total is R1?067?119.
The payment form, which The Witness has in its possession, shows quotes allegedly obtained by Shelembe’s personal assistant, Hazel Xolo, the manager in Shelembe’s office, Nondumiso Hlela, and Haswell.
Bridgmohan allegedly counter-signed the documents, but the absence of the signature of head of procurement Francis Grantham raises questions.
DA MP Mark Steele said that according to supply chain management regulations, any tenders of significant amount first have to be evaluated by the bid-adjudication committee before being signed by Grantham. Without this, they are not valid, he said.
Steele said another important regulation is that should funds over R1 million be required, council resolution is needed for their authorisation. Should there be no council resolution, then funds cannot be authorised, he said.
IFP councillor and executive committee (Exco) member Dolo Zondi said he did not remember any council resolution about this matter.
“It has never been to council. If this is true then it will put our municipality in a terrible situation. It’s the first I’ve heard of it but I will be investigating it,” he said.
Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo said she had seen the documents and according to her knowledge no council resolution was passed. She said she would take the documents to council and the issue would be investigated further.
Haswell said he could not comment until he had seen the documents. When The Witness offered to forward the documents to him, he declined.
“The onus is on the DA to forward them to me,” he said.
Shelembe and Hlela failed to respond to voice mail messages asking them to contact The Witness and Bridgmohan could not be reached as his phone was switched off.
DA spokesman Frits de Klerk called for the matter to be investigated immediately.
“Those found guilty should be dismissed from office and the ANC should return the money to the municipality. I am meeting with the auditor-general this week to put the matter before him and to ask that a full investigation take place,” he said.
KZN Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Willies Mchunu said the matter was brought to his attention at an ANC press briefing last night.
“The premier and the ANC government are committed in investigating the matter and if there’s any wrongdoing, punitive steps will be taken,” he said. He said he would make sure that he got a hold of the relevant documents this week and proceed from there.
The Witness attempted to elicit reaction from the following people yesterday. This was the outcome:
Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo - full comment given.
Speaker Alpha Shelembe - failed to contact The Witness by the time of going to print even though messages were left on his phone.
Dolo Zondi (IFP councillor and Exco member) - full comment given.
Roy Bridgmohan (deputy municipal manager for finance) - phone switched off with no option to leave a message.
Nondumiso Hlela (manager in speaker’s office) - did not respond to voice mail messages asking her to contact The Witness.
Rob Haswell (municipal manager) - he told The Witness he would only comment once the DA had sent him the documents.
Willies Mchunu (KZN Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC) - full comment given.
DA MP Mark Steele - full comment given.
DA spokesman Frits de Klerk - full comment given.
Sanelisiwe Shamase
HIGH-RANKING officials of the Msunduzi Municipality are set to be investigated after being implicatedin an alleged scam in which they apparently misappropriated more than R1 million in council funds.
The Witness has evidence that municipal manager Rob Haswell, speaker Alpha Shelembe and deputy municipal manager for finance Roy Bridgmohan allegedly by-passed the municipality’s proper procurement process in order to secure R1067119 to finance an African National Congress rally in January.
According to sources, Haswell, Shelembe and Bridgmohan were approached by the regional ANC and asked to help raise funds for an ANC provincial rally that was set to take place on January 18.
Instead of embarking on fund-raising ventures, the sources allege, the three conspired to obtain the funds from the municipality.
Shelembe was given the task of engineering requests for a cultural event called “the Nkosi Mlaba Cultural Day” to be used as a cover, the sources said.
This event was scheduled to take place on January 18, but the authorised payments for the event were allegedly obtained only on January 19.
As far as The Witness can establish, there is no evidence to prove that the cultural event actually took place.
A booking sheet for The Oval, where this event was meant to take place, states that this venue had been booked on January 18 for use by the Midlands Cricket Association.
However, another significant event did occur on January 18 — the ANC provincial rally at Qokololo Stadium in Edendale. It was attended by more than 50?000 people, including national Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale.
A firm was allegedly paid R497?860 to provide sound, tables, chairs, marquees and a stage at the rally, while another firm was allegedly paid R569?259 for T-shirts, caps, calendars, diaries and paper bags. The total is R1?067?119.
The payment form, which The Witness has in its possession, shows quotes allegedly obtained by Shelembe’s personal assistant, Hazel Xolo, the manager in Shelembe’s office, Nondumiso Hlela, and Haswell.
Bridgmohan allegedly counter-signed the documents, but the absence of the signature of head of procurement Francis Grantham raises questions.
DA MP Mark Steele said that according to supply chain management regulations, any tenders of significant amount first have to be evaluated by the bid-adjudication committee before being signed by Grantham. Without this, they are not valid, he said.
Steele said another important regulation is that should funds over R1 million be required, council resolution is needed for their authorisation. Should there be no council resolution, then funds cannot be authorised, he said.
IFP councillor and executive committee (Exco) member Dolo Zondi said he did not remember any council resolution about this matter.
“It has never been to council. If this is true then it will put our municipality in a terrible situation. It’s the first I’ve heard of it but I will be investigating it,” he said.
Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo said she had seen the documents and according to her knowledge no council resolution was passed. She said she would take the documents to council and the issue would be investigated further.
Haswell said he could not comment until he had seen the documents. When The Witness offered to forward the documents to him, he declined.
“The onus is on the DA to forward them to me,” he said.
Shelembe and Hlela failed to respond to voice mail messages asking them to contact The Witness and Bridgmohan could not be reached as his phone was switched off.
DA spokesman Frits de Klerk called for the matter to be investigated immediately.
“Those found guilty should be dismissed from office and the ANC should return the money to the municipality. I am meeting with the auditor-general this week to put the matter before him and to ask that a full investigation take place,” he said.
KZN Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Willies Mchunu said the matter was brought to his attention at an ANC press briefing last night.
“The premier and the ANC government are committed in investigating the matter and if there’s any wrongdoing, punitive steps will be taken,” he said. He said he would make sure that he got a hold of the relevant documents this week and proceed from there.
The Witness attempted to elicit reaction from the following people yesterday. This was the outcome:
Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo - full comment given.
Speaker Alpha Shelembe - failed to contact The Witness by the time of going to print even though messages were left on his phone.
Dolo Zondi (IFP councillor and Exco member) - full comment given.
Roy Bridgmohan (deputy municipal manager for finance) - phone switched off with no option to leave a message.
Nondumiso Hlela (manager in speaker’s office) - did not respond to voice mail messages asking her to contact The Witness.
Rob Haswell (municipal manager) - he told The Witness he would only comment once the DA had sent him the documents.
Willies Mchunu (KZN Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC) - full comment given.
DA MP Mark Steele - full comment given.
DA spokesman Frits de Klerk - full comment given.
Rates Insensitivity
THE latest supplementary rates valuation roll published recently by the Msunduzi Municipality is a shocking piece of administrative work. Contractors were paid vast sums of money to produce this millennium masterpiece. Values of properties have changed drastically from previous valuation rolls, without even a single household visit by these incompetent evaluators.
Values of some homes and industries have varied from millions of rands to well below their market values, and have increased again to way above those in the initial valuations. I beg an answer from the valuation company to explain these large anomalies and request the methodology they used to establish the values of homes, especially in the northern areas.
The municipality, city mayor and her band of merry men must be held accountable by the ratepayers for not having scrutinised the process of valuation before establishing the rates income in the city budget in the region of R430 million. They are hellbent on destroying this city and plunging it into the depths of despair, with potentially crippling closures of industries. Many are contemplating relocation in order to reduce costs.
Very soon the recession will bite deeper and those who become unemployed will have to sell their homes. This will impact severely on poverty in our city. There has already been an exodus of large companies and it is a fact that other municipalities are far more sensitive to their ratepayers and are intent on ensuring a safe passage during the recession facing us.
It is time that the provincial premier intervened or set up an inquiry into the rates fiasco and the financial state of affairs of the capital which is slowly being poisoned by its management.
AHMED A. KHAN
Belfort, Pietermaritzburg
Values of some homes and industries have varied from millions of rands to well below their market values, and have increased again to way above those in the initial valuations. I beg an answer from the valuation company to explain these large anomalies and request the methodology they used to establish the values of homes, especially in the northern areas.
The municipality, city mayor and her band of merry men must be held accountable by the ratepayers for not having scrutinised the process of valuation before establishing the rates income in the city budget in the region of R430 million. They are hellbent on destroying this city and plunging it into the depths of despair, with potentially crippling closures of industries. Many are contemplating relocation in order to reduce costs.
Very soon the recession will bite deeper and those who become unemployed will have to sell their homes. This will impact severely on poverty in our city. There has already been an exodus of large companies and it is a fact that other municipalities are far more sensitive to their ratepayers and are intent on ensuring a safe passage during the recession facing us.
It is time that the provincial premier intervened or set up an inquiry into the rates fiasco and the financial state of affairs of the capital which is slowly being poisoned by its management.
AHMED A. KHAN
Belfort, Pietermaritzburg
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