Mdu Nkosi, IFP leader in eThekwini, eThekwini Municipality City Manager Musa Mbhele and Haniff Hoosen the DA mayoral candidate. Both Nkosi and Hoosen demand consequence action on the Isiqu Report, which investigated allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of Durban Metro Police officers during the 2023/2024 financial year.
Image: ChatGPT
Opposition parties in eThekwini Municipality are calling for the release of the Isiqu Report, which investigated allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of Durban Metro Police officers during the 2023/2024 financial year.
The City Manager of eThekwini Municipality, Musa Mbhele, said the municipality took steps to address allegations of irregular appointments within the Metro Police.
Mbhele said the City's Integrity and Investigations Directorate compiled two reports. The Nexus Report, concluded in 2020, investigated two recruitment intakes conducted in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years. The report flagged the appointment of four officers as irregular.
Mbhele said that after legal processes were pursued by the City, the matter was resolved and the officers' appointments were upheld.
The second report, the Isiqu Report, recommended disciplinary steps against four officials: an authorised officer, two human capital officials and a business support employee.
“The report further reveals that R420,000 allegedly exchanged hands, with members of the public said to have been scammed by one of the suspended employees after being promised jobs that did not materialise,” Mbhele explained.
The Commissioner of the Metro Police, Sbonelo Mchunu, urged members of the public to be wary of scammers who pose as officials and solicit bribes on the false promise of securing them jobs within the Metro Police. Mchunu cited numerous cases in which members of the public had paid bribes to scammers promising them employment that does not exist.
Haniff Hoosen, DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate, said if the investigation is complete, there is no reason to keep the report hidden, unless the municipality has something to hide.
He called for the report, including its findings and recommendations, to be released. Hoosen said failure to disclose the report may lead to legal action by the DA.
“City Manager Musa Mbhele’s commitment to release the forensic investigation report into allegations of irregular appointments within the Metro Police was more of a cover-up than a commitment to transparency,” Hoosen said.
“If people are appointed to positions within the Metro Police through improper or manipulated processes, it can undermine the competence, integrity and effectiveness of the service tasked with keeping them safe,” he said.
Hoosen said the public has every right to know whether recruitment processes were manipulated, whether appointments were made unlawfully, who was responsible, and what consequences followed.
He said this investigation concerns allegations of irregular appointments within an institution entrusted with enforcing the law and protecting residents.
"The public has every right to know whether recruitment processes were manipulated, whether appointments were made unlawfully, who was responsible, and what consequences followed,"he said.
The DA will not allow the eThekwini administration to make promises of transparency and then retreat into secrecy. There must be no political sanitising, no selective disclosure, and no hiding behind bureaucratic excuses.
Councillor Mdu Nkosi, the Chairperson and Caucus Leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in eThekwini, said he was keen to see when the municipality will act decisively on the report and rid the system of the rotten apples as a matter of urgency. Nkosi said that when the Metro Police recruitments are cleaned up, no stone must be left unturned in the investigation. He said press statements must be turned into action.
“There are allegations that people who were unfit, overweight, and did not participate in the training passed the physical test. We have heard some did not even write the exams. That is why we have seen some unprofessional behaviour of Metro police on our streets,” Nkosi said.
He said those who paid for jobs should not be in the system. He said many recruits who might have fitted the criteria and were deserving of the job did not make it because the positions were already sold.
“You see metro police officers on their phones while on duty, or having an attitude with people because they came into the police system through the back door. Those people involved must face the full might of the law,” Nkosi said.
If legitimate legal grounds prevent the release of certain information, the City must release the report with only those sections properly redacted and provide clear reasons for every redaction.
What cannot be accepted is a situation where taxpayers fund an investigation, the investigation produces findings, the City Manager promises to make those findings public, and then the administration simply refuses to deliver.
Mbhele said the report will be released pending consultation with its legal teams. He said the report contained sensitive information that might jeopardise the criminal investigation underway by the police.
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