RENEWED FOCUS ON CORRUPTION NETS A COUNCILLOR AND MUNICIPAL FIELDWORKER

RENEWED FOCUS ON CORRUPTION NETS A COUNCILLOR AND MUNICIPAL FIELDWORKER

A renewed anti-corruption drive is paying early dividends as it has netted a councillor and a municipal fieldworker on charges of fraud and corruption. The Riversdale Magistrates Court released Riversdale Ward 8 councillor, Christopher Philip Taute, on R10 000 bail and ordered him not to contact witnesses to the case against him. His co-accused municipal fieldworker, Claudio Conradie, was also released on R10 000 under the same conditions.

The State alleges that Conradie, the manager of Hessequa Social Club Youth Development, was tasked with recruiting candidates for a workplace exposure project in the Southern Cape. The project was funded by the Transport SETA, which appointed ORE, a community and skills development consultant, focusing on fishing communities in and around the Western Cape Province. The Transport SETA was the custodian of the workplace exposure programme, whereas ORE was the implementing agent.

Taute was the founder of the Good to Share Leadership Foundation, which operated in or around Riversdale, Western Cape. The foundation was not contracted by ORE or by the Transport SETA.

Between 2016 and 2018, Conradie was appointed by ORE as an intern-supervisor for the workplace exposure programme at Riversdale, and Stillbaai. His responsibilities included recruiting a pool of candidates for the workplace exposure programme for a fixed-term contract. He was required to submit the candidates’ resumes to ORE, which in turn forwarded the same to Transport SETA for vetting. Once the vetting process was finalized, ORE was then contracted to appoint the candidates for the workplace exposure programme on a fixed term of employment. They would be paid a stipend of R4 500 per month and were obligated to sign the log sheets, produce monthly reports, and attendance register during the duration of the programme.

The state further alleges that Conradie and Taute devised a scheme to defraud ORE Consultants and the Transport SETA, by recruiting Portia Loverlot and Leone Adams, to join the workplace exposure programme as a means of generating income for themselves.
The accused instructed Loverlot and Adams to deposit between R1000 and R2500 cash as donations into the bank account of Taute’s foundation. They told the two women that the payments were for the benefit of the foundation for securing employment at ORE. The two women paid a total of R35 300 into the bank account for the benefit of the two accused.

Their second scheme involved recruiting and employing Lucinda Pieterse as ORE administrative clerk (research) in Stilbaai, Western Cape. Pieterse’s had a fixed contract running between 01 February 2017 to 31 January 2018 with a stipend of R4 500 per month. Between January 2017 to 24 March 2017, Conradie instructed Pieterse to make a monthly donation of R1 500 into the bank account of Taute’s foundation. She questioned Taute about the donation and the accused did not deny or admit the instruction.

Conradie told Pietersen that the deposits were due to the foundation for the opportunity it created for her to work as ORE administrative clerk (research).
Pieterse received her stipends for February and March 2017 but refused to make the deposits. Conradie fired her on 16 May 2017, alleging that Pieterse was no longer enthusiastic about her work and refused to obey orders.

She was expected to pay the two R18 000.

As a result of the two fraudulent schemes, the accused are charged with 21 counts of corruption and a count of fraud. Their case has been postponed until 12 April 2023 for further investigation.