Durban City hall is the headquaters of eThekwini Municipality. Picture: Willem Phungula
Durban — Solbeth Security and Risk Management Services has made an appeal to the eThekwini Municipality to settle half a billion debt or face court action on Tuesday.
The security company owner Advocate Siyabonga Xulu claimed he had given the eThekwini Executive Committee (Exco) until the end of the business day to respond.
Xulu has been embroiled in a four year legal tussle with the eThekwini Municipality over a R400 million debt. Xulu claimed he had provided security services including de-bugging and conducting “security sweeps” of the offices and some city officials vehicles. Xulu said the payment had accumulated to a whopping R62 million in interest.
Xulu claimed that he received a letter from the municipality legal services unit denying any responsibility of the debt. Xulu is hopeful that Exco members will make the correct decision and approve payment to avoid court action that could amount to wasteful expenditure. Xulu believes that he has a strong case.
Xulu added he was disturbed by the municipal managements attitude towards the payment because he had worked well with retired Chief Financial Officer Krish Kumar. Xulu claimed that he had found bugging devices when he had done a security sweep in Kumar’s office.
“My offices were swept by the security company mentioned based on the recommendation of the erstwhile city manager,” Kumar said.
Xulu said this was the first time he had experienced payment related issues. Xulu claimed that he his company has an impeccable reputation and has done work for several government departments including the premier's office in KwaZulu-Natal.
Xulu said he has been reliably informed that his matter was on the agenda at Tuesday’s Exco meeting and that the legal services unit had been notified to attend.
At the time of writing, the Exco meeting was still in progress.
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