Citizen uncovers fuel card scam at Bitou Municipality

EMPLOYEES of the coalition-run Bitou Municipality have been implicated in a petrol card scandal involving the fuelling of private vehicles using municipal petrol cards.

The scam was revealed last week by a concerned member of the public, who handed over evidence of the fraud to mayor Dave Swart.

Swart said he had passed on the evidence to the acting municipal manager, Noel Van Stade, who has since launched an investigation assisted by the municipality’s governance and compliance manager.

“An investigation is under way to determine the extent of this fraudulent use of municipal petrol cards including those that are allocated to vehicles in the Bitou Municipality fleet.”

A statement issued by the municipality said that the investigation has led to the confiscation of four petrol cards not linked to any particular municipal vehicle.

Swart said action would be taken against anyone in the municipality found to have been involved in any irregular activity to waste public money.

He urged more members of the public to provide any evidence they might have of the corruption.

The scam is the second to affect the municipality this month. Early in March the council warned residents not to fall for an alleged scam artist who was attempting to swindle residents by offering them jobs at the municipality in exchange for money.

In a statement issued at the time, the municipality asked the public not to fall for the scam and urged them to report anybody offering jobs for cash to the police.

The DA, which fell short of an outright majority at the local government elections in November last year, was forced to form a coalition with the Active United Front (AUF) and Plett Democratic Congress (PDC) to run the troubled municipality.

Last month local opposition party, the Ikhwezi Political Movement (IPM) lodged a formal complaint of fraud against the now-former acting municipal manager of the troubled municipality, Ntho Maredi, over his qualifications.

IPM president Nokuzola Kolwapi said they had found damning evidence that Maredi did not have the qualifications he claimed to possess.

Maredi had been appointed to the post following the resignation of yet another former acting municipal manager, Richard Bosman.

Bosman, who had previously served as director of safety and security in the City of Cape Town, resigned suddenly after serving barely two months in the post.

There has been an issue with the post of municipal manager in Bitou since February, 2019, when Lonwabo Ngoqo was appointed to the post despite having been dismissed by the same council due to financial misconduct back in 2012.

Ngoqo was found guilty after disciplinary proceedings.