GQEBERHA – Eight accused and two business entities have been discharged following a Section 174 ruling in a high-profile procurement case linked to a R24.6 million COVID-19 toilet project in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBM).
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson for the Eastern Cape, Luxolo Tyali, the ruling was delivered by the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court and relates to allegations of corruption and money laundering arising from the awarding of a contract for the construction of 2 000 permanent toilets during the 2020 COVID-19 State of Disaster, implemented as a de-densification measure.
In the NPA statement, Tyali added that the court found that the State had not established a prima facie case against the eight individuals and two companies. However, the same application was dismissed in respect of suspended NMBM City Manager Noxolo Nqwazi and the municipality’s former acting executive director of Human Settlements, Mvuleni Norman Mapu.
Nqwazi and Mapu face charges of fraud and contravention of Section 173 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). Their matter has been postponed to 1 April to allow their attorney to take instructions on the way forward.
Tyali said the authority respects the court’s decision and will study the judgment and its reasoning in detail to determine its next steps, in line with prosecutorial policy and applicable legal processes.
The charges arise from an investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) into allegations of fraud, corruption, money laundering and MFMA contraventions linked to emergency procurement during the COVID-19 State of Disaster in 2020. A parallel investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) resulted in some of the alleged payments by the municipality being halted.
Before closing its case, the State led evidence from more than ten witnesses from the metro and submitted several documentary exhibits relating to the procurement and fraud charges.
Commenting on the matter, Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said the charges investigated by the unit included corruption and money laundering.
“The Hawks have noted recent developments where charges against Luyolo Nqakula and his co-accused were found not guilty. However, other nitigrities around legal status we are not in a position to comment,” Mhlakuvana said.
He confirmed that Nqakula handed himself over to the police in 2022.
