MIDDELBURG – The Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has imposed a R50 000 fine on former municipal manager of Dr JS Moroka, Thami Khubheka.
The 53-year-old Khubheka was found guilty of violating the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) during his tenure in 2019. The court found that his actions resulted in the municipality losing an estimated R1.8 million.
On Wednesday, March 19, Khubheka was sentenced to a R50 000 fine or a two-year jail term.
Khubheka was found to have appointed six service providers without following supply chain processes.
“A case was registered at Siyabuswa Police Station and was transferred to Middelburg Serious Commercial Crime Investigation for further handling. The investigation was finalised, which led to his arrest on 22 November 2022,” Mpumalanga police said in a statement.
He has attended court on several occasions until his conviction on March 17.
The two-year imprisonment, which is wholly suspended for five years, is on condition that he is not convicted of similar offences during the suspension period.
Khubheka has been embroiled in a conflict with former mayor Thulare Madileng over control of the municipality.
The protracted battle has seen court interventions and an investigation by the Office of the Public Protector into allegations of maladministration and corruption.
Khubheka was placed on precautionary suspension on several occasions by the council for allegedly stopping contracts of service providers at the municipality, which he claimed was “a bid to clear the municipality of corruption.”
He maintained that the contracts ended naturally and were not terminated by him.
“Those contracts ended on their own, I did not terminate them,” he told Highveld Chronicle at the time. “They then attempted to forge an extension, and I rejected that.”
Khubheka also blamed a top ANC politician for having vested interests in the municipality.
“He [the politician] made it look as if there is a rift between myself and Mayor Thulare in an attempt to oust him so he can have his way around the municipality. Because he [the politician] does not have the authority to remove me as municipal manager, he is using the council to fight his own battles,” he said.
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