uMshwathi Municipality probes potentially fraudulent payments worth R4.3 million

Questions are mounting over potentially fraudulent payments totalling R4.3 million at the uMshwathi Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.

An internal probe has flagged hundreds of transactions, prompting the council to approve an independent forensic investigation.

The municipality council recently voted for an independent forensic investigation to be conducted into this matter.

Documents seen by EWN suggest the scheme of redirecting money meant for suppliers has been going on for a number of years, with suspicions that more than R4,3 million is likely to be uncovered once the forensic investigation gets underway.

UMshwathi is a small municipality located in the sugarcane-rich area of the KZN Midlands, it has 14 wards and an annual budget of about R300 million.

It falls under the uMgungundlovu District Municipality.

Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA) sent an email to the uMshwathi Local Municipality’s Acting Chief Financial Officer, Thenjiwe Mkhulisa, about “potentially fraudulent” transactions which it had red-flagged.