Former Mhlathuze Water chief executive Mthokozisi Duze allegedly ran the entity as a personal fiefdom, removing supply chain management (SCM) staff to manipulate procurement processes and tender awards from as far back as 2016.
Duze survived at least two internal investigations sparked by whistleblower complaints — one in 2016 and another in 2019 — before eventually being placed on suspension last year by the water board in northern KwaZulu-Natal and being arrested over corruption totalling R37 million.
Whistleblowers had accused him of forcing out SCM staff who were unwilling to go along with his activities, which allegedly included him being awarded two bonuses totalling R1 million in a single year, but Duze had dismissed their allegations as an attempt by aggrieved former staffers to smear him.
According to internal documentation, Duze was cleared by successive Mhlathuze boards in 2016 and in 2019, but was placed on suspension along with several other staffers in December 2021.
Duze, who resigned in December, is out on bail over irregular legal services contracts awarded during the Covid-19 lockdown, along with lawyer Ralph Mhlanga, Nonhlanhla Mkhize, the director general in the office of KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, and several other people.
Mkhize, Mhlanga, Duze and co-accused Sipho Mabaso also allegedly attempted to intimidate Mhlathuze board chairperson Thabi Shange to stop her from acting on a forensic investigation the entity had appointed into Duze.
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