Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Thami Ntuli says he was unaware of the serious allegations levelled against the interim head of public works and infrastructure he appointed.
Last month, Ntuli suspended Sboniso Majola as head of the province’s department of public works and infrastructure and replaced him with Vish Govender.
However, it has since emerged that Govender left the Newcastle municipality, where he held two different positions, under a dark cloud.
Govender was found wanting on fraud, corruption and maladministration allegations that were subject of an independent investigation report in 2022.
He served as strategic executive director for development planning and human settlements as well as acting municipal manager in the Newcastle municipality, where council adopted the damning report.
Conflict of interest
The investigation report, among other findings, found Govender guilty of conflict of interest in that his trust, Vise Trust, was “irregularly awarded” a sale of municipal land tender in the municipality where he worked and was involved in the bidding process.
It was found that Govender was also involved in the rezoning and building plan approval.
The investigation unearthed that the application for rezoning from single residential to medium or high density was submitted by an agent for Vise Trust “on behalf of Ms Govender, the wife of Mr Govender.”.
Reads the SVZ Consulting investigation report: “In the application for rezoning, Ms Govender purported to be duly authorised to represent Vise Trust.
“However, the affidavit she submitted in that regard was invalid as it lacked details such as her address, date and place of signature, and it was not commissioned.
“We found that Mr Govender [a trustee of Vise Trust] entered into a land availability agreement on behalf of the municipality with his wife [also a trustee of Vise Trust].
“On 18 February 2021, Mr Govender declared that he was a representative of the seller, the municipality. Mr Govender approved the bid document for the sale of residential properties.
“There is evidence to prove that Mr. Govender was involved in the preparation of the bid document as strategic executive director: development planning and human settlements and later bid for the same bid. This rendered the process not fair.”
Procurement process
The investigators insisted that Govender should not have tendered for the bid as he was involved in the procurement process from the beginning.
As if that were not bad enough, the investigation found that Govender had also been involved in the technical evaluation.
“Mr Govender approved the compliance report and submitted a technical report to the BEC [bid evaluation committee].
“Mr Govender’s actions regarding the sale of the land in question are tantamount to conflict of interest, dishonesty and corruption.
“Mr Govender’s conduct was against Section 195 of the constitution, which requires that employees in the public service exercise the highest ethical standards and to promote efficient, economic, and effective use of resources.
“And Mr Govender’s conduct was also against Section 17 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.”
Ntuli, through spokesperson Bongani Gina, said he did not know about the dark cloud hanging over Govender and that such were things that preceded the current provincial administration that he leads.
Appointed during sixth administration
In any event, the premier insists, Govender was already in the provincial government system in the previous term of office.
“As Dr Govender was appointed during the 6th administration, any allegations relating to a ‘controversial history’ of Dr Govender at the Newcastle municipality or the allegation that Dr Govender left the said municipality ‘under a dark cloud of a damning and explosive forensic report against him’ have not been brought to the attention of the premier.
“As a result of which, the premier is unable to comment on the said allegations,” Gina told Sunday World.
“In any event, the adoption of a forensic report by a municipal council does not equate to the report ‘passing the legal test’ [sic], as the said report merely contains untested allegations, the veracity of which have not been subjected to judicial scrutiny.”
The public works and infrastructure department and Govender did not respond to questions sent two weeks ago.
