MP’s criminal case against eThekwini manager highlights breakdown in state anti-corruption efforts

ActionSA MP Alan Beesley this week opened a criminal case against the eThekwini municipal manager, Musa Mbhele, after a heated exchange between the two in a Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) meeting in Cape Town.

At the 20 May meeting to consider Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probes into eThekwini’s finances, Beesley put it to Mbhele that either he or President Cyril Ramaphosa was lying about SIU reports.

Mbhele claimed he had never seen a 2023 SIU report on dodgy municipal land sales in eThekwini, leaving Beesley aghast.

“It is deeply concerning if the SIU are issuing reports and the city says they’re not receiving them,” said Beesley.

His information from the Presidency was that the SIU report was sent to Mbhele in 2023, “So either the Presidency is lying or, with all due respect, city manager, you’re lying.”

“I take serious exception,” retorted the city manager, claiming his team told him they never received the SIU reports.

“You can’t say we are lying,” Mbhele said. “I’ve never seen the report,” he said, before accusing Beesley of lying.

Fast-forward 18 days, and Beesley opened a criminal case against Mbhele at the Cape Town Central Police Station, warning that lying to Parliament carried a penalty of up to three years in jail.

“The final SIU report [into eThekwini] has long been in the public domain. The Presidency has confirmed in writing that the report and recommendations were sent to the municipal manager in August 2023, while municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana publicly acknowledged the municipality’s engagement with the report.

“The report itself confirms that the investigation had been finalised, that four disciplinary referrals were made to the municipality, and that 11 matters were referred for administrative action, including blacklisting,” he said.

Blacklisting bust

Beesley’s supporters will say his decision to open a criminal case against Mbhele shows the courage of his convictions.

Cynics might call it political grandstanding in an election year.

“For the city manager to sit there and say, ‘I don’t have the report’ is nonsense. It is incomprehensible that everybody else has the report, but the City doesn’t. Do they not care?

“For a man who earns more than R4.5-million to plead ignorance means he is grossly incompetent,” said Beesley.

He is livid. He had been beating the SIU drum for over a year.

At a Scopa meeting last year, it emerged that only one of 467 companies or individuals recommended nationally for state blacklisting had been blacklisted.

“This says everything about how the state is dealing with corruption. Not one of the 51 Covid companies or individuals identified by SIU to be blacklisted has been blacklisted.”

Beesley says the Treasury holds a national blacklisting database, although little is done by various arms of government to use the list. It relies on accounting officers in municipalities, government departments, state entities and parastatals to inspect the blacklist.

In September 2025, Beesley asked the Public Protector to investigate systemic maladministration arising from the failure to implement SIU blacklisting recommendations.

The sluggishness, disinterest, or wilful avoidance of accountability by officials makes a mockery of the SIU’s work and the R487-million allocated to the unit annually.

SIU reports and recommendations, including consequence-management directives, seem to fall on deaf ears.

Ramaphosa’s office is mandated to coordinate efforts to fight corruption and build an ethical state.

In a briefing to Scopa in September, the Presidency outlined challenges with the state’s responsiveness to graft.

Not all officials acknowledge SIU blacklistings, and these companies continue to work with the state.

The Presidency acknowledged problems in monitoring, including the need to establish a central register to track state employee dismissals and resignations arising from SIU probes.

The SIU has unearthed a litany of misdemeanours involving misconduct, fraud and corruption: everything from misrepresentation of information to collusive bidding and the submission of fraudulent invoices.

The unit has probed hundreds of scams, including the egregious misuse of state funds during the Covid-19 pandemic, where almost 10% of the total state spend of R150-billion was investigated.

For Beesley, the scale of the larceny is as injurious as the dismissive attitude some officials have towards corruption.

Dodgy land sales

Beesley’s beef with Mbhele takes place against the backdrop of a simmering dispute over the sale of public land in Durban, some of it to ANC donors, including tycoon Jay Singh, who was the subject of an R400-million swoop by the Asset Forfeiture Unit when he died.

The issue dates back years to a controversial 2005 “infill” scheme that saw the city sell land to developers for low-cost housing.

It is the subject of the 2023 SIU report, which Mbhele claimed to be unaware of.

The SIU began investigating the dodgy land sales in 2019, noting that even in 2017, the eThekwini Council took a resolution to remedy the Phoenix development deals.

However, “The investigation confirmed that the said resolution was never implemented by the municipality.”

In 2022, the SIU called for the blacklisting of a host of companies, including two linked to Singh’s family — Gralio Precast and Woodglaze Trading — another company, Madhupa Business Enterprises, and another called Cascade Home Trust.

Beesley’s colleague, ActionSA eThekwini councillor Saul Basckin, got behind moves by a group called Phoenix Civics Incorporated to spotlight the issue.

The organisation said in a letter to Scopa that it had been almost three years since the SIU report was handed to the city.

“As far as we are aware, to date, NONE of the SIU’s recommendations mentioned in the report have been implemented.”

Last week, construction boards went up in Phoenix, prompting Basckin to call on Mbhele to immediately halt developments linked to entities named in the SIU report, including in a park.

“Both Madupha Business Enterprise and Cascade Home Trust are specifically mentioned within the SIU report,” said Beesley, who is “dumbfounded” by the city’s attitude.

The SIU report identifies allegedly corrupt officials and developers buying land in shady deals. Some go on to make huge profits by selling the land on.

Beesley shouldn’t have to lay charges against the city manager. Mbhele should be chomping at the bit to fix this.

Maybe the city manager is, and something has been lost in translation.

Mbhele’s response, via a spokesperson, was: “The matter has now become subject to legal processes. The municipality will refrain from commenting further. We will, however, cooperate fully with any lawful process when required.”

It will be interesting to see how far the police investigation against Mbhele goes and whether the National Prosecuting Authority has the appetite to prosecute.

No matter how it pans out, this goes beyond a spat between a politician and an official; it shines a light on the systemic lack of accountability and follow-through.

Every day, corruption-fatigued South Africans shake their heads in despair as graft deepens. Our anti-corruption architecture churns out reports that seem to vanish into a void of bureaucratic inertia. DM