Hawks ordered to return muni’s seized equipment
The Hawks have been ordered to return office equipment seized from the Msunduzi municipal offices after their search was declared invalid.
|||Durban - A court has ordered the Hawks to return computers, laptops and documents seized from Msunduzi municipal offices within 24 hours after it declared the search and seizure warrants invalid.
The Msunduzi Municipality brought an urgent application before Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Yvonne Mbatha on Monday, claiming police, bent on frustrating an auditor’s probe, had used bullying tactics to obtain the confidential documents and laptops, as well as copies of documents and any mirror imaging of information stored on the computers, seized on March 18.
According to court papers, the documents relate to fraud and corruption investigations against municipal employees and officials, as well as tender documents relating to road construction, security services, land development, parking meter system, waste management and smart meter contract projects.
The Daily News reported last month that laptops, documents and files were seized from Msunduzi municipal offices in the city linked to an investigation into alleged tender irregularities amounting to R2 billion.
Detectives swooped on the office of suspended city manager, Mxolisi Nkosi, as well as the municipality’s Internal Audit Unit offices at Galway House and the supply chain management offices at the AS Chetty building in the Pietermaritzburg CBD.
The raid followed a probe into maladministration and financial mismanagement at the municipality by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube. Nkosi was suspended just days after the MEC announced the investigation.
An affidavit by manager of the Msunduzi Internal Audit Unit, Petrus Mahlaba, revealed that there may be ulterior motives to the search and seizure.
Mahlaba said the audit unit had been conducting investigations into matters relating to the conduct of certain officials within the municipality.
“We believe certain individuals have embarked on an orchestrated plan to destabilise and frustrate our investigations. They have sought to attain their objective by enlisting the help of certain policemen to take steps to obtain search warrants and to remove computers and other documents mentioned,” Mahlaba said.
“I know of no fraud or corrupt activities being perpetrated by any member of the audit team.
He said the raid on his offices was conducted by three policemen, the lead officer identified as Detective Warrant Officer N Adimulam.
Mahlaba said the policemen entered the offices in a very aggressive manner. Adimulam enquired as to Zamani Khoza’s whereabouts.
Khoza is described by Mahlaba as a “key figure” tasked with investigations into alleged corrupt relationships between certain officials of the municipality and service providers.
According to Mahlaba, the policemen adopted a “maverick approach” and seized Khoza’s computer. Mahlaba said the information stored on Khoza’s computer was highly confidential and sensitive.
Mahlaba, who was not at the office at the time of the raid, was summoned to the office by Adimulam by telephone.
He said when he arrived, Adimulam informed him he was there to confiscate Mahlaba’s laptop.
“They seized my laptop as well as a document relating to a bid from the City of Johannesburg which I was requested to co-ordinate by National Treasury,” Mahlaba said.
Mahlaba said his laptop, as well as all the other computers and documents seized, contain sensitive information.
In a separate case, the Daily News has learnt that Mahlaba would approach the Durban Labour Court on Tuesday in an attempt to overturn his suspension. Mahlaba was suspended last week by the very officials he is tasked with investigating.
Daily News