THE South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Free State has welcomed the arrest of the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality’s Municipal Manager, Futhuli Mothamaha, who was arrested last week by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation for corruption.
Mothamaha was arrested on Tuesday last week on charges of fraud and corruption.
He is out on bail of R500 000.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says that Mothamaha awarded a contract of R58 million to Kill Crime Security Company in 2020 without following proper procurement processes.
SAMWU said the fact that Mothamaha was able to quickly put up R500 000 to post bail suggests that he has indeed benefited from the ‘looting’ of municipal finances.
“As SAMWU, we are convinced that this is but one of the many failures by MAP’s political elite who have turned the municipality into their cash-cow, while in the process compromising the much-needed service delivery for residents of the municipality,” SAMWU said in a statement.
“We have previously learnt of the modus operandi of Mr. Mothamaha who continually bulldoze his way into the purse of the municipality by suspending and terminating anyone who stands in his way of looting the coffers of the municipality. The municipality’s CFO and MAP Water Finance Manager have also fallen prey to the ruthlessness of Mr. Mothamba through a suspension for refusing to carry out illegal and unlawful instructions coming from the office of the Municipal Manager.”
Part of Mothamaha’s bail conditions is that he must not enter the offices of the Maluti-A-Phofung municipality, not to interfere with the investigations or intimidate witnesses.
The case was postponed to 30 September 2022 for further investigations.
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