Update

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - All five the accused in the George War on Waste case dating back to 2017 have pleaded not guilty to the multiple charges against them.

The accused are the former George mayor, Melvin Naik, the former municipal manager, Trevor Botha, the former director of community services, Walter Hendricks, the former manager of cleansing services, Wessel Robertson, and Rowan Botha, who was the supervisor for the project.

They appeared in the Plettenberg Bay Regional Court on Monday 10 November and pleaded the next day.

It took State Advocate Xolile Jonas more than three hours to read into the record the 118-page charge sheet against the four former officials of the George Municipality and the fifth accused.

The charge sheet said Naik had conceived and later executed a mayoral project that came to be called the War on Waste (WoW).

The total amount included in the WoW case was just over R9m. The payments were for the period between March and October 2017.

Trucks

The project focused on obtaining the services of a BEE contractor to do the work and included the provision of eight tipper trucks and four TLBs to work the project.

According to the charge sheet, the WoW was conceived by Naik in late 2016 to collect refuse and clean up various unsightly sites. “Conceiving and executing the WoW project forms the basis of the current charges,” it read.

As municipal manager, Trevor was the accounting officer. He assisted Naik and employed the assistance of Hendricks and Robertson. Rowan was known to Naik and ended up in the employ of the municipality as a supervisor on the project.

Naik, Trevor, Hendricks and Robertson “are thus public officers and persons who are party to an employment relationship, defined in section 1 of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, 12 of 2004 (Preccaa),” reads the charge sheet.

They face charges of fraud, corruption and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and supply chain policies of the municipality.

Walter Hendricks as director of community services in 2016. Photo: Michelle Pienaar

Shareholdings

Naik reportedly held exploratory discussions with Myron Alfred Bruiners - who was a member and shareholder in the companies Noodles CC (Mr Noodles) and Numocento (Pty) Ltd (Numocento) - and Johann Bonthuys concerning WoW and the provision of their services through a new company that they were to establish. 

This company never came about.

Naik allegedly expressed the wish to acquire shareholdings in the service provider entity for himself and Trevor. Bonthuys allegedly indicated to Naik that he would consider their proposal and revert.

He considered the proposal to be problematic and sought legal advice from an attorney, who reportedly shared his reluctance and advised him that government officials may not be involved in a business.

Bonthuys informed Bruiners accordingly, and Naik and Trevor were not given shareholdings in Numocento as Naik had allegedly proposed.

Trevor Botha as George’s municipal manager in 2016. Photo: Michelle Pienaar

Payments

According to the charge sheet, the alleged plan to gain personal benefit from the WoW project nevertheless proceeded in a different fashion.

When the municipality proceeded to make payments to Mr Noodles and Numocento for performing services in the WoW project, Naik allegedly demanded corrupt payments for himself and the other accused.

Bruiners allegedly proceeded to make these payments to all of the accused detailed in the charge sheet, as all of them had agreed to accept, and did accept.

“Apart from the ostensibly legitimate aim of the WoW project, the accused intended the project as a vehicle to gain personal benefit for themselves,” said Jonas.

He said the municipality had used the services of Mr Noodles and Numocento through a consecutive series of supposed ‘emergency deviations’ from the competitive supply chain management (SCM) tender processes required in terms of Section 217 of the Constitution, the MFMA and the municipality’s SCM Policy.

The case continues.

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