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Hawks investigate Alfred Nzo District Municipality following alleged fraud activities

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The specialised police investigative unit, the Hawks, have conducted a search and seizure operation at the Alfred Nzo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape.

The investigation stems from alleged fraudulent activities linked to a water project worth R36 million.

It’s alleged that the water tender was duplicated and a company was paid twice.

It’s a municipality that has been characterised by allegations of fraud and corruption for years.

The Hawks have constantly conducted investigations at the municipality but no one was successfully charged and prosecuted before a court of law.

Hawks Spokesperson Philane Nkwalase says: “The allegations are that, it is alleged that there was a duplicate tender that was awarded to a particular company. At this stage, we are not in a position to state the people of interest who the companies are and which companies are involved. But it is alleged that a tender was awarded to a company and procurement process were not followed.”

Alfred Nzo District Municipal senior managers allegedly colluded with the private company to defraud the municipality.

But, the municipality says there is nothing sinister about its governance.

Municipal spokesperson, Lixolile Petela says: “We are not at liberty to say there is anything happening, service delivery is happening, we are servicing our people, we are doing clean governance, and we are gunning for a clean audit. We received an unqualified audit opinion last year so from where we are seated everything is going in order here.”

This is the second operation in the province after the Hawks conducted a search and seizure operation in the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality earlier this week.

The Eastern Cape is among the provinces where fraud and corruption are rife.

Service delivery is immensely affected in rural areas due to alleged fraudulent activities.

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