Durban — A legal expert, attorney Andile Dakela, said the resignation of Mbuso Ngcobo, the head of eThekwini Municipality’s investigation arm, the City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU), will not affect the State’s case against former mayor Zandile Gumede, where he is a key State witness.
Ngcobo has been forced to resign after receiving several death threats. He tendered his resignation letter on Tuesday evening to human resources and the eThekwini Municipality city manager’s office.
Dakela said that the State would still call Ngcobo to continue with his testimony and should he fail to come, the State would subpoena him.
“The State’s case will not be impacted by his resignation,” said Dakela.
Ngcobo has been investigating high-profile corruption cases involving former eThekwini mayor Gumede and city manager Musa Mbhele.
He told the Daily News that after being under pressure for some time and tolerating threats to his life, these escalated last week, prompting his decision to resign.
On Monday, Ngcobo opened a case with the police because of the seriousness of the detailed threats he received via telephone, where the caller told him to stop his investigations in eThekwini.
“I have been receiving death threats and my family has been asking me to leave and rather starve at home than die. The last straw was when my brother literally wept, begging me to leave this work because the family did not want to lose me,” said Ngcobo.
Ngcobo has been under protection since he started testifying in the case against Gumede and others in the Durban High Court last year.
Ngcobo’s unit is the one that first investigated the more than R400 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender scandal before the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) took over. This investigation resulted in the arrest of Gumede, councillors, business people and other senior officials.
He also compiled a report which found that Mbhele had violated the Municipal Finance Management Act when he unilaterally amended a street pole advertising tender in 2016, which resulted in the renewal of the tender.
Last month, Mbhele was cleared of any wrongdoing in a report that was presented by mayor Mxolisi Kaunda. The city said there was a corruption case opened, but not against Mbhele, dismissing allegations that he was facing charges.
The eThekwini Municipality had not commented at the time of going to print.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News