ANALYSIS
Any expectation of dramatic revelations at the start of the R320 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) fraud, corruption and money laundering trial involving former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her co-accused — a cohort including ANC councillors, senior officials and business owners — was swiftly extinguished this week as the matter moved forward in a mechanical fashion.
The state claims it has “irrefutable evidence” that will convince Durban high court judge Sharmaine Balton of the guilt of the 22 accused, and to achieve this, will rely on multiple browsing record histories, bank records, eThekwini financial records, invoices, waybills, mobile phone records, testimony from witnesses not yet disclosed and vehicle tracking data. Expectations are that the matter will run for well over a year.
What has been made clear in the state’s 400-page indictment, and was reiterated in court by prosecutor Hazel Siramen, was that accused number one, Gumede, was the “principal controller” of the alleged criminal cabal.
Siramen said the state had identified the four key players working with Gumede as being former senior ANC executive councillor Mondli Mthembu, former city manager Sipho Nzuza, former DSW deputy head for strategic and new developments Robert Abbu, and the then deputy head of supply chain management at the municipality, Sandile Ngcobo.
It was these five players who fed instructions to the remaining accused, the court heard, with Gumede working under the guise of radical economic transformation (RET) when instructing councillors who to choose for sub-contracting work.
Together, the accused are facing well over 2 000 counts that include charges of fraud, corruption, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act, contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, contravention of the Organised Crime Act and contravention of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act.
Gumede, who was appointed a member of the provincial legislature after being charged and consequently dumped as mayor, allegedly received kickbacks of R2 881 350 from January 2017 to July 2019 for ensuring that the predetermined businesses benefited from waste contracts.
She used eThekwini’s RET policy to ensure that military veterans and controversial “business forums” such as Amadelangokubona — long associated with violence and intimidation at construction sites — were awarded work. Far from being a quasi-magnanimous act, this was to ensure her political longevity in the hotly contested eThekwini arena, according to the state.
The crimes were not overtly complicated, based on what the state said in its opening statement. But they were brazen.
Gumede and Mthembu either convinced or bullied then municipal manager Nzuza to ignore his years of accounting training to sign off on multiple illegal transactions.
Abbu, who was close to retirement at the time of the alleged crimes, and who faces losing his pension if convicted, actively participated in the enterprise and headed up a new position in DSW that was purposely created to enable the looting. Ngcobo actively deceived the supply chain management process — for a Jaguar F Pace SUV.
It was a mafia-style operation with proceeds from the looting always trickling down.
The National Prosecuting Authority will set out to prove that Gumede had, along with Mthembu, orchestrated the capture of key staff members and then through coercion, bribes and political rhetoric set out to syphon enormous amounts of cash to themselves, their proxies, their political allies and political party, the ANC.
Gumede’s deliberate elevation of the business forums over fiduciary duty and supply chain management processes is probably a key reason as to why business forums have risen to such prominence in KwaZulu-Natal, threatening every aspect of the provincial economy.
Instead of taking a hard line against the extortionist modus operandi of the so-called forums, they were rewarded handsomely.
Although many South Africans have come to expect corruption as a part of doing business in the country, there are still indications that the system, albeit bruised and battered, works.
The investigation that led to this point all started with an anonymous whistleblower who provided documentary evidence to the City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU).
The initial evidence did not immediately implicate Gumede and was mostly focused on the dodgy DSW tender that facilitated the criminal enterprise. But as heavily guarded CIIU head Mbuso Ngcobo told the court this week, there was sufficient information provided to initiate a probe.
What did become evident was that the city has been under-resourcing this crucial department, leading Ngcobo to seek external assistance from a private investigations firm. It was the report generated by this firm, combined with an investigation conducted by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, that untangled the web and ultimately led to the charging of 17 people and five companies.
While most of this week was dedicated to the state presenting its opening statement and first witness Ngcobo, early indications are that the various defence teams will look to discredit the CIIU investigation, and will probably look for holes in the chain of custody to have as much evidence as possible disregarded.
