It never rains, but it pours for Modimolle-Mookgophong municipality chief financial officer (CFO) Charles Malema, who is now in hot water for not declaring a criminal complaint against him while he was finance man at the Mogalakwena municipality — his previous employer.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which investigated several tender irregularities at Mogalakwena, referred Malema to the police for a criminal investigation.
Malema is also attending a trial for fraud for allegedly being involved in the diverting of R5-million meant for security services and VIP toilets, shenanigans of which happened at the Sekhukhune municipality, one of his previous employers.
Modimolle, the self-proclaimed “Limpopo’s leading municipality in reliable service delivery and sustainable economic growth”, received a “tip-off” about Malema, stating that he had a case relating to his time at Mogalakwena, which he did not declare when he got the nod for his current job.
Nothing to declare
Malema has since come out to clear his name, saying there was nothing to declare as the criminal complaint is still in investigative stages.
Moreover, he went on; he was in the dark about the criminal complaint until now since he had never been invited or visited for questioning by law enforcement agencies.
In any case, Malema defended himself; Modimolle obtained a police clearance report during his recruitment, and it revealed no red flags.
Malema’s superior, Modimolle municipal manager Ntoampe Thobela, told Sunday World that the municipality received the tip-off from an anonymous whistleblower.
“We do not officially know of it [the criminal complaint]; we heard of it in the streets. We just saw the report; whether or not he [Malema] knew about it is another story,” said Thobela.
“We have not had an official communication from anybody regarding this matter; that is why from my side there was nothing I could do. There was just a tip-off; I did not get any official things to date.”
I have not been charged
Malema says a criminal complaint is not of the same standard as being charged when there is no chance of not knowing.
The clean police clearance he received prior to his hiring at Modimolle serves as proof of this.
“I got hold of the report; they are saying there has been a case. But I would not know because they are still investigating,” said Malema.
“I have not been charged; I only declare cases where I have been charged, but where there is no charge, I would not know. At the time when I was employed, there was no case that I needed to answer.”
He continued: “The SIU report was issued after my appointment; there was no way I could have known because SIU never contacted me to get any information.
“The law says if I have been charged formally, I need to inform my employer that I am going through this process, but in this case I did not know.
“At Mogalakwena, I was never charged; I was only charged about issues relating to Sekhukhune even after the fact.”
Bush clearing services contract
Malema’s SIU referral to the police is in relation to a contract Mogalakwena municipality awarded to MultiTree for bush clearing services.
The appointment was apparently done without adherence to procurement processes.
“On or about 10 May 2019, the former chief financial officer, Mr Charles Malema, approved payment to MultiTree without complying with the relevant policies and prescripts, causing the municipality to incur irregular expenditure in the amount of R980 000,” reads the SIU report.
“On 9 February 2022, the SIU referred evidence to the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] against Mr Malema for financial misconduct as envisaged in Section 173[3] of the Municipal Finance Management Act in that he failed to take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised, irregular, or fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The case was registered with SA Police Services.”
