A municipal official in Polokwane claimed and received an overtime payment of R92 000 in just one month, reports City Press.

This startling revelation is part of the ongoing process to cleanse the municipality of corruption following the completion of a forensic investigation by law firm Bowman Gilfillan in April.

‘This is not an isolated incident and clearly shows the deficiencies regarding monitoring and approval of overtime. The Auditor-General also highlighted that not all employees presented themselves during their audit process, which has increased the risk of ghost employees,’ said DA caucus leader Jacques Joubert.

The report has not been publicly released and councillors were only given a summary.

City of Polokwane spokesperson Thipa Selala said that the report had not been released because it had names of officials who must still be charged and face disciplinary action.

The municipality is expected to suspend and charge as many as 15 officials implicated in the report.

Selala said that only two senior officials had been charged so far. The city’s mayor, Makoro Mpe, has confirmed that some of the report’s findings were that officials were awarded a tender for the purchase of buses for the public transport system, Leeto la Polokwane, to a newly formed company that failed to deliver after receiving payment.

Even more startling was that the municipality was the company's first client.

The new company competed against established entities, such as Volvo, but it somehow managed to win the tender despite its lack of a track record. This dodgy deal could see the city lose R17.8m.

The report also highlighted other irregular expenditure of R137m.

Full City Press report