The uThukela District Municipality in the west of KwaZulu-Natal has instituted a forensic investigation to probe the alleged abuse of overtime and standby allowances by its employees.
According to the municipality, its overtime bill alone amounts to about R48 million a year.
Ladysmith and Estcourt are among the areas that have experienced severe water outages, while the district’s Water and Sanitation Department contributes to the exorbitant overtime bill.
Mayor Ntandoyenkosi Shabalala says the municipality spends not less than R4 million every month on overtime pay and standby allowances.
Shabalala also says there is also another forensic investigation under way, probing the alleged abuse of the municipality’s vehicles and fuel.
“There is a forensic investigation where the investigators are checking whether people who were claiming these overtime were qualified to claim that and whether they were on duty during those times. So the investigation is carrying on. There is another one which deals with fleet and the consumption of fuel, we also introduce a forensic investigator to investigate whether the fleet and the fuel were used accordingly.”
