The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) has accused the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) of fraud and corruption.
During a media briefing on Thursday, 2 March, Samwu provincial secretary Mpho Tladinyane said JRA, as an entity, is fully owned by the City of Joburg, is riddled with fraud and corruption. This has resulted in the entity’s inability to maintain the majority of the roads, which are now in a state of disrepair.
He said that they had become aware of a number of operations in the JRA and that as employees and residents of the city, they had a duty to expose these fraudulent and corrupt activities.
“We cannot fold our arms in silence while the institution that feeds us and our children is milked to its last cent,” said Tladinyane.
Tladinyane said since there is a new administration in the City of Joburg, they will give them an opportunity to investigate these dodgy deals and take appropriate action.
“We demand that the City’s Forensics Investigations Group be tasked with this role, failure to that, we will approach the Johannesburg Central Police Station to file criminal charges for the theft of money that could have been used to service residents of the City of Johannesburg,” he said.
He said the city had seven days to take action against those who allegedly diverted funds for personal gain.
“If they fail to do so, they will be complicit in fraud and corruption within the JRA and as such, the union will be left with no option but to lay criminal charges in terms of Prevention of Organised Crime Act,” he said.
Some of the corruption allegations he cited related to the 2018/2019 financial year, and there was questionable transaction that raised red flags, leading JRA to launch an investigation into the transaction. Tladinyane said that in conducting the investigation, a consulting agency was appointed to investigate irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure for the 2018/19 period.
“An amount of R418 702 718,96 was incurred by the entity in irregular expenditure,” he said.
-daily sun
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