A senior administrative officer at Sekhukhune municipality in Limpopo and three alleged accomplices were arrested by the Polokwane-based Hawks for alleged tender fraud.
The municipality awarded tenders worth more than R5m to different companies to provide security services in 2018.
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According to Hawks spokesperson Lt-Col Matimba Maluleke, it is alleged that the former municipal CFO and the senior administrative officer connived with other companies, which never rendered any service, to deposit money into the companies’ accounts that were later shared among themselves.
As a result, the companies that rendered the services did not receive their payments.On Thursday, an operation conducted in Groblersdal led to the arrest of former municipal official Andries Mokgotho, 45, and two service providers, Bongani Masupye, 34, and Shivhadana Murovhi, 39.
The administrative officer was not found on Thursday but handed herself over to the Hawks on Friday morning. The former CFO is still on the run.
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Mokgotho, Masupye, and Murovhi appeared in the Groblersdal magistrate’s court on Friday morning to face fraud and theft charges. They were remanded until next Thursday when they are expected to apply for bail. The senior officer will make her first appearance in the Groblersdal magistrate’s court on Monday.
Head of the Hawks in Limpopo Maj-Gen Gopz Govender welcomed the arrests and vowed to hunt down the outstanding suspects. “We are on a mission to clean both government and private sectors by rooting out corruption,” Govender said.
