Edition June 2026

Robust collaboration between law enforcement agencies, business and residents is key in good governance and fighting against fraud and corruption. Our collaboration with law enforcement agencies must have effect on curtailing misconduct statistics. 

The massive achievement we have accomplished is a true reflection of working with multilateral stakeholders to curtail beneficiaries of fraud and corruption. We would like to express our appreciation to stakeholders who have heeded the call to anonymously report any irregularities and misconduct. eThekwini Municipality has suffered an immense financial loss derived from theft and fraud. 

The municipality’s City Integrity and Investigations Directorate’s (CIID) mandate is derived and aligned with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy. The directorate administratively reports to the City Manager and provides oversight reporting to key governance structures, including the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, Integrated Risk Management Committee, Financial Misconduct Disciplinary Board, and the Audit and Risk Committee.

Fighting fraud and corruption 

The municipality has taken a firm stance against fraud and corruption to swiftly investigate the reported cases. Our turnaround time to complete an investigation is six months. This may take longer, especially in cases referred to courts.

We are aware of the members of the public who relentlessly bribe Municipal officials in exchange for employment. This is fraud and corruption, which is a criminal offense and we will catch them. 

Two employees were prosecuted for fraud late last year and earlier this year. One was found guilty of creating fraudulent purchase orders, falsifying signatures and approving invoices for goods that were never received.

The second was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for tampering with CCTV systems. We will continue collaborating with external law enforcement agencies to combat fraud and corruption. 

In the second quarter of 2025/26, a total of 136 cases of fraud and corruption were investigated, 171 infrastructure theft cases were investigated, 24 cases of employees who were implicated has been recommended for disciplinary hearings, 14 cases were recommended for recoveries, two services providers to be blacklisted and three criminal cases were registered with law enforcement. 

The municipality has adopted a zero-tolerance stance against fraud, corruption, and the violation of human rights. Building an ethical, corruption-free organisation is a key focus for the municipality. 

In November 2025, six employees fro eThekwini municipality were arrested for the theft of asphalt tar in Inanda. They were found transporting the asphalt tar and failed to produce a job card to explain why and where they were transporting it to. 

In another instance a man purporting to be a municipal employee was caught red-handed fraudulently filling diesel at one of the petrol stations, where the City’s fleet refuel.

The man was arrested after a tip-off from the Municipal City Fleet Directorate stating that there were municipal vehicles filling diesel more than 10 times a day. 

The culprit had four vehicles fitted with a 750-litre fuel tank at the base of each single cab van. The diesel was stored in these tanks and resold. Each vehicle generated about R78 000 a day. The suspect was doing rounds everyday filling diesel at over 15 petrol stations that the municipality had contracts with. 

During the 2024/25 financial year, 420 cases were resolved including the disconnection of a hospital that had illegally connected to the Municipal grid. The CIID also conducted civil recovery of about R27 million and curbed infrastructure theft. 

From July 2025  to March 2026, the CIID finalised 250 fraud and corruption cases, 199 were for infrastructure theft and vandalism cases. Off the 250 cases, 23 were recommended for recoveries and are quantifiable to the value of just over R100 million. 

We remain resolute and will not be influenced by politicians or executive management in carrying out our duties. Any implicated officials will be held accountable. We have the authority to investigate municipal employees, entities, councillors and service providers. 

Collaboration

Working with the National Prosecuting Authority, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation – Hawks and the South African Police Service clearly strengthen our commitment to curtain criminal activities. 

Our strategic vision is to continue evolving the CIID from a traditional internal investigative component into a professional forensic investigation directorate aligned with the standards of the broader criminal justice system. 

This transformation is critical in ensuring that municipal forensic investigations produce evidence capable of sustaining both disciplinary accountability and criminal prosecution. We have met with law enforcement agencies to iron out some of the challenges that are hindrances to successful apprehensions

 It is a collaboration between investigators and prosecutors that investigations translate into effective admissible, reliable and persuasive evidence in the court of law. 

Our responsibility is not only to investigate fraud, corruption, irregularities and misconducts, but to ensure the recovery of unlawfully diverted Municipality funds. We identify, freeze, confiscate, and recover the proceeds of crime. In carrying out this mandate, we are guided by relevant legislation, including the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act of 2004, the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, the Municipal Finance Management Act oof 1998 and the Cybercrimes Act of 2020.

We call upon prosecutors, investigators, auditors, law enforcement agencies and municipal officials, businesses and residents to operate as partners with a shared and common mission. Let us work together to defend and protect resources that are susceptible to fraudsters, let us hold them accountable for their actions. 

Residents and stakeholders  are encouraged to report  fraud and corruption to the  CIID on 0800 20 20 20 or  031 311 4002, or via email at ombuds@durban.gov.za.