Corruption is one of the biggest threats to SA: Hawks

The Hawks have arrested 12,157 suspects and secured 4,447 convictions in the past four years.

On Tuesday, national Hawks head Lt-Gen Godfrey Lebeya highlighted 45 milestones achieved since his appointment in June 2018, among them five major corruption cases.

The Hawks believe corruption is one of the biggest threats to the country. To strengthen the fight against it, the anti-corruption task team (ACTT) and operational committee have been revitalised to fast-track investigations, prosecutions and asset recoveries. 

“We have adopted team work as opposed to individual investigations. In this regard we continue assigning task teams to deal with certain municipalities, under the auspices of the national clean audit task team,” said Lebeya.

The Hawks investigate cases including cash-in-transit robberies, theft of fuel from Transnet pipelines, drug and human trafficking, corruption, commercial crime, organised crime, cybercrime, money laundering, and conspiracy and incitement to commit crime.

The following corruption cases were taken up between the 2018/19 and 2021/22 financial years:

Case 1: eThekwini Durban Solid Waste tender

On May 14 2019 former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and 21 others were accused of fraud involving a R208m Durban Solid Waste tender. They are on trial in the Durban high court.

Case 2: Executive mayor of JB Marks municipality

On October 23 2020, executive mayor Kgotso Moses Khumalo and director Cyril Hendry of the JB Marks municipality appeared in the Potchefstroom magistrate's court on charges of fraud and theft after about R5m intended for the municipality allegedly ended up in private pockets.

The case is back in court on October 19.

Case 3: Suspects arrested for R56.4m corruption

Nine suspects, including two former Nelson Mandela Bay municipal officials, were arrested on fraud, corruption and money laundering charges exceeding R56.4m in actual loss, with an approximate potential loss of R200m. This after a National Treasury audit.

The case resumes in the Gqeberha magistrate's court on October 25.

Case 4: Former minister of state security

On October 27 2020, 12 suspects, including former minister Bongani Bongo, were arrested for fraud and corruption in connection with alleged dubious land deals amounting to almost R124m. This followed a complaint that the Msukaligwa municipality bought a farm in Ermelo worth R11m, but allegedly paid R36.4m, in 2011.

The investigation uncovered two other deals. The matter is scheduled for a pretrial conference in the Mpumalanga specialised commercial crime court from November 18 to 25.

Case 5: VBS Mutual Bank

There have been 27 arrests and a conviction in the case of inappropriate administering of state funds into VBS Mutual Bank by municipalities. The list of suspects includes former mayors, municipal members and CFOs who lost nearly R1.6bn from 20 municipalities in Limpopo, the North West and Gauteng after “illegally” investing with the bank. More arrests are expected.

The main case is set down for trial from October 3 to December 3.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.