The two senior officials have been arrested for alleged fraud and corruption and are soon expected to appear in court.

Chief Financial Officer, Nrateng Khumalo, and the Expenditure Manager, Diakanyo Khampepe, were arrested last week on Thursday and subsequently appeared on Friday where they were both granted R10 000 and R1 000 bail respectively. According to the Hawks, the two ladies’ arrest came as a result of the Hawks’ investigation into a security services tender that was allegedly awarded irregularly by the municipality to a company called Zero Tolerance back in 2016. In a statement, the Hawks’ Hangwani Mulaudzi says the municipality reportedly lost approximately R4.6 million as a result of the alleged irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure.

He further confirms that five suspects, amongst them four senior officials from the municipality and the Zero Tolerance's company director, were last year December arrested by the Hawks’ investigation and that all the suspects involved in the case are set to appear before the Bethlehem Regional Court on April the 4th.

The directorate is expected to soon make more arrests.

The Maluti-A-Phofung currently tops Eskom’s list of municipalities that owe it money for bulk power supply. It owes the power utility more than R2.8 billion and is listed in the latest Auditor-General report amongst the municipalities that need urgent intervention.

Municipalities in the Free State collectively owe Eskom over R7.8 billion, making it the province with the highest Eskom debt.

OFM News