THICK END OF THE WEDGE
PETER BRUCE: SOE boards need to behave impeccably
Sometimes corruption in government in SA is so blatant it is almost impossible to comprehend. In Nelson Mandela Bay recently, opposition parties combined to oust mayor Athol Trollip. The very next day, city officials came under pressure from the new "administration" to furnish the new mayoral committee with details of all tenders currently under negotiation and to make no decisions on them until further instructed. When city manager Johann Mettler instructed officials to ignore the instruction, he was first put on a precautionary suspension. Then the new mayor tried to have him charged for fraud. Then the Hawks declined to prosecute, saying there was no case. At the time of writing, the new mayor was going to suspend him anyway and pursue the charges. It’s a typical South African story. Mettler is in the way of the new council executive eating. But the saga is still a cautionary tale because as President Cyril Ramaphosa pushes his fight-back against corruption in the public sector, ...
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