Councillors and service providers have been lined up to take the witness stand in the fraud and corruption trial of former mayor Zandile Gumede.
The long-awaited trial, which got under way at the high court in Durban on Monday, continued on Tuesday.
State prosecutor Hazel Siramen told the court that the state has a watertight case against the former mayor and her alleged accomplices.
She said a key witness will shed light on how officials acted on political instruction to accept quotations from service providers without them being properly evaluated.
“One of the witnesses will state that they received over 1 000 quotations for the project and there was no proper evaluation of the quotations,” she said.
At the heart of the matter is the R320-million Durban Solid Waste tender allegedly awarded to various hand-picked contractors without following proper procurement procedures.
Gumede, senior city officials, and service providers are charged with a plethora of charges including fraud, money-laundering, corruption and racketeering.
The tender was to assist with illegal dumping and collection of refuse in various townships and in the inner city, and was dubbed a special project.
The state believes Gumede, former city manager Sipho Nzuza, deputy head of strategic and new development Robert Abbu, former ANC councilor Mondli Mthembu and Sandile Ngcobo, the city deputy head of supply chain, were key movers in the multimillion-rand corruption scandal.
The accused allegedly said the project was part of their radical economic transformation programme, which the city adopted shortly after Gumede became mayor.
Cellphone records, vehicle-tracking data and bank statements are some of the crucial evidence that the court has in its disposal.
The trial continues.
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