The Auditor-General has retracted a second audit finding against Deputy Mayor Khusta Jack, clearing him of any wrong-doing in the midst of allegations that two of his companies had been doing business with the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
The Municipal Finance Management Act prohibits municipalities from doing business with companies whose members or directors are employees of the State.
In a letter to the Deputy Mayor’s lawyers the Eastern Cape Business Unit Leader for the Auditor-General’s Office, Shereen Noble conceded that the audit finding implicating the Deputy Mayor was erroneous and would be retracted.
In an audit report to the municipality the AG had flagged the company, Yonke Installations in which the Deputy Mayor has an interest, as having made a “false declaration” in that it had failed to disclose that it had a member or director who was in the service of the State.
The audit report identified that undisclosed shareholder as the Deputy Mayor.
In her letter Ms Noble said after further investigation her office had established that Yonke Installations was awarded a tender by the municipality before the Deputy Mayor became a councillor.
She wrote: “The company submitted a quotation for fibre repair services on 18 October 2021 in response to an advert as indicated in the municipal quotation register.
“The quotation (tender) was awarded to Yonke Installations on 3 November 2021 by the municipality.
“Mr Mkhuseli Jack was appointed as a councillor on 5 November 2021 based on the document called Headcount (payroll).
“It is clear that Mr Mkhuseli Jack was appointed as a councillor on 5 November 2021 which is after Yonke Installations was awarded the quotation (tender) on 3 November 2021.
“At the time of concluding on this matter we did not have such information.”
Ms Noble said the AG’s office had relied on information supplied to it by the municipality.
“Had the municipality correctly responded by checking information requested, the municipality could easily have cleared up the matter at that time.”
She said her office would engage with the municipality “to effect the necessary amendments” on the audit management report.
Last month the AG also retracted another erroneous audit finding against the Deputy Mayor.
That finding had alleged that another company called Umzamo Wethu had also made a “false declaration” in that it had failed to disclose that the Deputy Mayor was a member or shareholder upon being awarded business by the municipality, as required by law.
In that matter Ms Noble had written that after the AG’s office had done further investigation, at the behest of the Deputy Mayor’s lawyers, they had discovered that although the Deputy Mayor owned a company called Umzamowethu (Oyster Bay) Fishermen’s Corporation this was not the same Umzamo Wethu which had done business with the municipality.
In that instance she also blamed the municipality for failing to respond to the AG’s audit query and retracted the erroneous finding.
The Deputy Mayor said he was pleased that his name had been cleared in respect of both companies.
“I have been warning my political detractors who have been accusing me of corruption and breaking the law that it is dangerous to make defamatory accusations on public platforms without first taking the trouble to establish the facts. Now they have exposed themselves to litigation after running a libelous campaign against me in the media.
“Despite the noise made by the opposition councillors the Council has handled this matter in the correct manner as specified in the Municipal Systems Act and referred it to the Rules and Ethics Committee for investigation.
“But even that exercise is now irrelevant because there is nothing to investigate. The committee must simply submit a formal report to Council to that effect.
“Also irrelevant is the special Council meeting which the opposition has petitioned for to be held on 26 May.
“That petition and so-called motions of no confidence are based on non-existent audit findings which have been withdrawn by the AG. So the meeting is left with no legitimate Council business to discuss. The Speaker must simply call it off.
“This one particular coup attempt to remove the multi-party government in the ANC’s desperation for power is dead in the water,” said the Deputy Mayor.
Alan Straton
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