The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini welcomes the arrests of two suspects in possession of 52 LED streetlights worth R1.82 million belonging to the city. According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), the arrest happened in the Kosi Bay Border, between South Africa and Mozambique.
The arrests happen while we await a City Integrity Investigative Unit (CIIU) forensic investigation outcome on the city’s inflated R579 million dubious street light contract.
We also understand, through reliable sources, that the forensic findings point a finger at the city’s Head of Electricity, who has faced no consequence due to political protection afforded to him.
EThekwini remains in darkness while millions have supposedly been spent on installing and maintaining streetlights.
The DA will be writing to the City Manager to ask that the forensic investigation into the R579 street light contract be tabled in this month’s council meeting with recommendations that should include consequence management and criminally charging those who enabled this possible heist.
We insist that the arrests made at the border must be taken into account during forensic investigations as there clearly appears to be a well-orchestrated syndicate, possibly involving politicians and city officials, that his hellbent on keeping eThekwini in the dark.
The DA will also write to the chairperson of the Human Settlement and Infrastructure (HS&I) cluster, the EFF’s Cllr Themba Mvubu to request that he initiates an investigation into the theft of the city’s much-needed property of eThekwini Municipality and what the EFF intends to do about this as they are in charge of this cluster.