Tshwane opposition want deputy mayor's conflict-of-interest probe report laid bare

Opposition parties in the City of Tshwane municipality have criticised the council speaker for not publicising a forensic investigation report looking into conflict-of-interest allegations between Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise and a service provider.

Earlier this year, the municipality commissioned a report to probe whether Modise was benefitting from Triotic Protection Services, which scored multi-million rand security contracts from the city.

While Modise has previously acknowledged he was a director of the company, he insists that he resigned before becoming an African National Congress (ANC) councillor for Tshwane in 2023.

The report was tabled behind closed doors in council on Thursday with the Speaker, Mncedi Ndzwanana, saying it was confidential.

However, the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s caucus leader Cilliers Brink said the matter is definitely in the interest of Tshwane residents.

“The code of conduct for councillors is clear that if you are a councillor you cannot benefit from a contract with the municipality, in fact, you are obliged to declare your business interest once you’re elected as a councillor and then to divest in. It’s all the worse for this guy being the deputy mayor and the councillor being in charge of the finance portfolio (Modise is also Tshwane’s MMC for Finance).

“Pressure brought by the DA has now forced the council speaker to table the report, but he has marked it confidential, which is explicitly against the code of conduct for councillors, which requires these kinds of reports to be public and that is how the da will treat it. The next moves, we will announce in council that we are definitely preparing a criminal case of fraud.”