More than 30 staff from the City of Cape Town's planning and building development department are being investigated for allegedly drawing and processing plans privately without council permission.
A firm of forensic experts has been appointed to investigate irregularities in about 1 000 plans that were processed by the department over a 12-month period. The department dealt with close to 50 000 plans during this time.
Piet van Zyl, executive director for strategy and planning, said the department received a tip-off about corrupt activities last year. After a preliminary assessment, the department appointed a forensic firm to do a full investigation.
Other concerns include whether due process and checks and balances had been followed for all building approvals.
The city's planning department has been battling with staff shortages and complaints about inefficiency.
JP Smith, DA councillor and chairperson of the Good Hope Sub-Council, said on Thursday there was concern about corruption in the processing of property leases, particularly in the Hout Bay area.
Planning and environment mayoral committee member Marian Nieuwoudt said: "The investigation seeks to ensure good governance, ethical practices, law enforcement and that no member of the public was advantaged or prejudiced by the actions of the staff."
She said the department had "taken actions" to limit any negative impact on service delivery. Staff would be moved between offices to ensure there was no service disruption.
"The duration of the process and further steps will be determined by the results of the investigation," she said.
Meanwhile, the city's property management department will ask the council next week to approve a recommendation for a two-year moratorium to be placed on the processing of applications for city property that benefit only the abutting owner without contributing to general economic and social development.
In a report submitted to the city's mayoral committee, property management director Ruby Gelderbloem said statistics revealed that many of the applications for city property would be used by products or services not of "strategic importance" to the city and only be economically viable for the property owner.
Gelderbloem said 2 238 of the city's 5 300 lease contracts had expired and not been renewed. The city's whole lease portfolio, of about 5 300 contracts, is worth R3,4-million. The city was losing more than half of this revenue by not having the capacity to process extensions.
Gelderbloem said 16 staff needed to be employed "as soon as possible" to help manage the city's lease portfolio. - Cape Times
A firm of forensic experts has been appointed to investigate irregularities in about 1 000 plans that were processed by the department over a 12-month period. The department dealt with close to 50 000 plans during this time.
Piet van Zyl, executive director for strategy and planning, said the department received a tip-off about corrupt activities last year. After a preliminary assessment, the department appointed a forensic firm to do a full investigation.
Other concerns include whether due process and checks and balances had been followed for all building approvals.
The city's planning department has been battling with staff shortages and complaints about inefficiency.
JP Smith, DA councillor and chairperson of the Good Hope Sub-Council, said on Thursday there was concern about corruption in the processing of property leases, particularly in the Hout Bay area.
Planning and environment mayoral committee member Marian Nieuwoudt said: "The investigation seeks to ensure good governance, ethical practices, law enforcement and that no member of the public was advantaged or prejudiced by the actions of the staff."
She said the department had "taken actions" to limit any negative impact on service delivery. Staff would be moved between offices to ensure there was no service disruption.
"The duration of the process and further steps will be determined by the results of the investigation," she said.
Meanwhile, the city's property management department will ask the council next week to approve a recommendation for a two-year moratorium to be placed on the processing of applications for city property that benefit only the abutting owner without contributing to general economic and social development.
In a report submitted to the city's mayoral committee, property management director Ruby Gelderbloem said statistics revealed that many of the applications for city property would be used by products or services not of "strategic importance" to the city and only be economically viable for the property owner.
Gelderbloem said 2 238 of the city's 5 300 lease contracts had expired and not been renewed. The city's whole lease portfolio, of about 5 300 contracts, is worth R3,4-million. The city was losing more than half of this revenue by not having the capacity to process extensions.
Gelderbloem said 16 staff needed to be employed "as soon as possible" to help manage the city's lease portfolio. - Cape Times
No comments:
Post a Comment