News24 reports that seven people, comprising four former Nelson Mandela Bay metro employees and three company directors, appeared in the Gqeberha Magistrate's Court on Thursday for allegedly contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and fraud.

The name of late former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Mongameli Bobani was placed at the centre of the case of alleged theft of more than R25 million from the Eastern Cape municipality in 2015. Bobani, who died of Covid-19 in November, was at the time of the alleged crime serving on the standing committee overseeing the public health directorate, which paid out R25.6 million through an allegedly dodgy tender. It is alleged he received a R2.4 million kickback for playing a key role in the approval of the tender. In a statement on Thursday evening, the National prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the accused and Bobani allegedly formed a criminal enterprise to capture the metro's public health directorate and manipulated its procurement processes. The NPA said the accused allegedly acted with a common purpose to manipulate the processes to ensure that Milongani Eco-Consulting was awarded tenders. A total of 43 payments amounting to just more than R25.6 million were made by the municipality into Milongani’s banking account for the tenders. The case was postponed to 28 January 2022.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Malibongwe Dayimani at News24

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