She could be Durban’s ANC head ... or she could be heading to jail for fraud

It would have been an easy race for the position of ANC regional chair in KwaZulu-Natal, but former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede could find herself out of the race completely come August. 

If the barrage of corruption and fraud charges in the R320m Durban Solid Waste (DSW) case brought against Gumede and her 17 co-accused sticks, the 58-year-old could face a hefty prison sentence. 

On Tuesday Gumede and her co-accused appeared in the Durban High Court facing a total of 2,786 charges ranging from corruption to money laundering and racketeering.

A formidable ally of former president Jacob Zuma, Gumede’s support among the branches in eThekwini, the province’s largest region, puts her in pole position ahead of the elective conference for regional chairperson.

But if the 397-page indictment by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is anything to go by, the trial against Gumede and her co-accused — to be heard from July 18 to August 31 — will be explosive. 

More than 55 witnesses are expected to testify in the matter in which the state fingers Gumede, former head of the city’s infrastructure committee Mondli Mthembu, ousted eThekwini municipal manager Sipho Nzuza and eThekwini deputy head of supply chain management Sandile Ngcobo as key figures in manipulating a DSW tender for personal and political financial benefits. 

The state alleges that soon after Gumede took office in 2016 her “carefully planned” plot to manipulate the tender was hatched as four companies — Uzuzinekela, Ilanga, Omphile and El Shaddai — were irregularly awarded contracts for refuse removal.

According to the indictment Gumede received benefits adding up to R2.8m between October 2017 and July 2019.

“The cash flow analysis reveals that accused 1 (Gumede), 3 (Nzuza) and 5 (Ngcobo) and their family members received benefits from the four main contractors of the new DSW contract during the period of the contract.”

According to the state the DSW contract was initially awarded for three months on a budget of R45m.

“The said contract was unlawfully extended for a further 15 months to the extent of an estimated R320m excluding VAT.”

The fraudulent activities mentioned above resulted in eThekwini municipality making payments to the four service providers as follows:

1. Between January 2018 and July 2019 El Shaddai invoiced eThekwini for an amount of R52,577,437.61 (including VAT) for the DSW tender. EThekwini paid a total of R52,487,890.61, which was paid into El Shaddai’s bank account. The difference of R89,547.00 (R52,577,437.61 less R52,487,890.61) was deducted as a discount for early settlement of the first invoice.
2. Between December 2017 and July 2019 llanga invoiced eThekwini for an amount of R91,719,017.39 (including VAT) for DSW tender. A total of R89,692,737.22 was paid into llanga’s bank accounts by eThekwini, whereas R709,240 was paid to El Shaddai. The difference of R2,026,280.17 (R91,719,017.39 less R88,983,497.22 less R709,240.00) was deducted as discounts for early settlement of some of the invoices.
3. Between January 2018 and July 2019 Omphile invoiced eThekwini for a total amount of R67,279,422.72 (including VAT) for the DSW tender. A total of R67,143,196.85 was paid into Omphile’s bank account by eThekwini. The difference of R136,225.87 (R67,279,422.72.61 less R67,143,196.85) was deducted as a discount for early settlement of the first invoice.
4. Between January 2018 and June 2019 Uzuzinekela submitted invoices to eThekwini totalling R111,632,148 .65 (including VAT) for the DSW tender. It is noted from the ledger provided by eThekwini that Uzuzinekela ceded some of its payments to other parties.
5. A total of R93,233,669.77 was paid into Uzuzinekela bank account by eThekwini in respect of invoices adding up to R94,564,952.60. The difference of R1,331,282.83 (R94,564,952.60 less R93,233,669.77) was deducted as a discount for early settlement of the relevant invoices.

Despite the charges against Gumede her supporters claim she is leading the pack for the race of regional chair with more than 70% of the branches in eThekwini having nominated her.