Hawks raid North West municipality
The Madibeng local municipality in North West will fully co-operate with the Hawks on its investigations into allegations of tender irregularity, mayor Jostina Mothibe said on Thursday.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or Hawks, raided the municipality on Thursday morning and left with documents of a number of tender suspected to have been issued irregularly.
“We are committed to co-operate with the Hawks. If there are people found to have done wrong, we will allow the law to take its course,” Mothibe said.
However, Mothibe added that they suspected that there was a political ploy behind the Hawks’ raid.
“We suspect someone is behind this. Why do they focus on August and January. August is the month that the former municipal manager Monde Juta was seconded to Ditsobotla local municipality,” she said.
“We are in a contractors’ battle, someone is not benefiting.”
“We cannot say whom do we suspect until we have done our homework. It is not Monde Juta, he is not a politician.”
She said there had been two raids before by the national treasury and one by officials from the department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
“On both occasion they stormed our offices and demanded that we respond to their questions.”
She said the municipality suspected there was a political ploy behind the raids.
Members of the African National Congress Youth League then stormed into the press conference, waving placards and calling for the Hawks to investigate Madibeng municipality from 2011 till 2016.
“The Hawks must investigate Catablancha report, ministerial task team report,” read one placard.
The grouping wanted the Hawks to investigate former Madibeng municipal managers Philly Mapulana and Monde Juta.