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Hawks investigating three Western Cape municipalities
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Cape Town - The Hawks are following up reports that have emerged from three of the Western Capeâs 30 municipalities â Bitou, George and the Central Karoo District Municipality, which have been investigated for corruption in the last year.
The status update was the first of a series of quarterly updates from the provincial department of local government to the legislature on the status of all section 106 investigations. These investigations cover non-performance and maladministration.
The departmentâs specialised support director Gary Birch told the local government standing committee that the Matzikama municipality and the department were in litigation over the MECâs right to appoint independent investigators under the Municipal Systems Act.
Municipal officials frequently resign before investigations into corruption and fraud can be concluded, says the Western Cape department of local government. On Tuesday 9 March, the department briefed the provincial legislature on section 106 investigations in the province.
A section 106 investigation takes place when the MEC for local government either instructs a municipal manager to provide information, or designates another party to investigate whether maladministration, fraud, corruption or serious malpractices have occurred or are occurring in any given municipality.
Four section 106 investigations have been initiated or already finalised in the Western Cape:
Bitou Municipality: An investigation report was given to the municipality in 2019. Gary Birch, the department’s director for specialised support, told the legislature’s local government oversight committee that a law firm had been tasked with developing a plan to respond to the provincial government’s report. A co