Muni investigates complaint

Writer: De Waal Steyn.

We find no evidence to support the allegations of misconduct by the Municipal Manager, Coenie Groenewald, but in the interest of openness and transparency, and in the event that we may have overlooked anything, we recommend the appointment of a special investigator within 7 days, who will report back to the Mayor within 30 days.”

This was the unanimous recommendation by all political parties at a special council meeting held on Monday afternoon, 9 March after an official complaint of misconduct was brought against Groenewald by resident Anton Kruger on 5 March. Kruger is the administrator of several public participation sites on Facebook and a member of a group calling itself LiberTAS (Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability).

According to the complaint, in accordance with the municipality’s Unauthorised, Irregular or Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure Policy, it is alleged that Groenewald “demonstrated poor judgement” in awarding a turnkey property development tender to the value of R600 million to construction group Asla Devco, after the tender had initially been awarded to M5 Developments by the municipality’s Tender Adjudication Committee in 2007.

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