The Public Protector has been asked to probeNelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe’s decision to rent out a municipal transformer to a private company in a deal worth a whopping R250,000 a month. The one-year lease had allegedly been finalised before the council gave the green light, with the R25m transformer already in Coega Steels’ hands. Coega Steels, a private steel manufacturing company based in the Coega Industrial Development Zone, needed the transformer after one of its own units was alleged to have packed up.
The deal burst into the open when angry councillors baulked at an October council meeting after being asked to sign off on it. City manager Lonwabo Ngoqo then said the metro planned to take the lease agreement, which had already been concluded with the steel company in September, on judicial review in the High Court. The controversy blew up again earlier this month when Siyanda Mayana opened a case of unlawful removal of state property at the Humewood police station in Gqeberha.
Mayana previously served as the GOOD party’s regional chair in the city. IOL learned a formal complaint had since been lodged with the office of the Public Protector on Thursday, though whether it would be investigated was still to be decided. Spokesperson Ndili Moski told IOL: “The Public Protector SA confirms receipt of the complaint.
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“In accordance with [our] investigation procedures, once a complaint has been lodged with the PPSA, it is screened and assessed. “That is to determine jurisdiction and whether there is sufficient information, and substantive reasons as to why the matter should be accepted for investigation, among other things.”
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