Lobby groups have accused Knysna Municipality of dishonesty for the way in which it reversed an earlier decision to write off R93m of irregular expenditure relating to so-called ‘piggyback contracts’ on a pre-paid water meter tender.

According to a Cape Argus report, in an about-turn, the Knysna Municipal Council changed its mind about writing off the spending, but accused the Auditor-General’s 2018/19 report on the municipality of having misinterpreted the law.

Piggybacking is when an existing contract is used to acquire the same commodities or services at the same or lower price from another public entity contract.

The 180 degree turn came after allegations of corruption had been levelled against the municipality by two lobby groups, the Knysna Ratepayers Association (KRA) and Knysna United.

The move was announced in a statement headlined ‘Neither official nor political office-bearer to pay back the money,’ and on the municipal website by the municipality’s acting manager Louis Scheepers. The KRA described Scheepers’ statement as ‘both misleading and deeply troubling’.

‘From the outset, the heading of Scheepers’ statement prejudges the outcome of the pending municipal public accounts committee investigation and Scheepers misleadingly refers to “alleged irregular expenditure” whereas it is not in dispute that Knysna Municipality incurred irregular expenditure of more than R93m in connection with Regulation 32 or “piggyback” tenders,’ the group said.

‘The municipality also unlawfully wrote off the expenditure in May, following the recommendation from the former acting municipal manager, Dr Michele Gratz,’ said the KRA.

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