DURBAN, Wednesday 2 September 2026 — eThekwini Municipality has opened a criminal case after a forensic investigation found that an official received payments allegedly linked to promises of jobs in the Durban Metro Police Service, adding a governance controversy to one of South Africa’s most closely watched metropolitan municipalities two months before local elections.
City manager Musa Mbhele and Durban Metro Police Commissioner Sibonelo Mchunu disclosed findings from the investigation at a municipal media briefing on Wednesday after allegations of irregularities in the metro police recruitment process. The municipality had formally announced the briefing through its official media service.
The investigation followed complaints from 71 unsuccessful applicants who alleged that they had paid money in exchange for positions in the service.
Mchunu said affidavits from the complainants and bank records showed payments to an account associated with an official implicated in the investigation.
According to the municipality’s account reported by SABC News, investigators traced more than R420,000 in payments to the official.
Individual transactions identified during the investigation included payments of R3,000, R60,000 and R280,000.
Mchunu said the implicated person was a junior official who had been monitoring part of the recruitment process at Albert Park and was not responsible for making recruitment decisions.
A criminal case has been opened with the South African Police Service.
The allegations have not been proven in court, and the municipality did not identify the official during Wednesday’s briefing.
More than 62,000 people applied during the Durban Metro Police recruitment process, which opened in February.
The forensic investigation was subsequently commissioned after allegations emerged that applicants had paid substantial amounts in an attempt to secure positions.
Accounting firm Isiqu completed its investigation and handed its report to the municipality at the end of June.
Claims contained in a leaked version of the report generated further controversy during August, including allegations that significantly larger amounts had been involved and that senior officials were being protected.
Mbhele and Mchunu rejected claims that the confirmed scheme involved as much as R20 million and denied that the forensic investigation had implicated senior officials in the manner alleged.
Those assertions remain disputed political and governance claims rather than established findings.
Mbhele said the municipality had referred suspected criminal conduct to law-enforcement agencies.
“As soon as something looks like fraud, smells like fraud we feel like it is possibly fraud. That is why we activate all the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
The municipality has not yet released the complete forensic report publicly.
That has prompted calls from opposition parties for its publication.
The DA and ActionSA have both called for the report to be released, while DA eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen said residents were entitled to know its findings.
Hoosen characterised the matter as evidence of corruption within the municipality.
That is a political assessment by an opposition mayoral candidate and is not itself a finding of the forensic investigation.
The timing gives the controversy additional electoral significance.
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is one of South Africa’s eight metropolitan municipalities and is expected to be among the country’s most competitive council contests in the 4 November local government elections.
The ANC lost its outright majority in eThekwini in the 2021 municipal elections, after which the city experienced repeated coalition negotiations and changes in political relationships.
The 2026 contest includes the ANC, MK Party, IFP, DA, EFF, ActionSA and numerous smaller parties, making questions of municipal administration, policing and service delivery central campaign issues.
The latest disclosure is therefore more significant than an ordinary municipal employment dispute: it concerns recruitment into a metropolitan law-enforcement agency, follows a formal forensic investigation and has now resulted in a criminal referral.
The municipality has promised action against individuals implicated in wrongdoing but has not announced when the full forensic report will be made public.
Further significance will depend on the SAPS investigation, whether criminal charges follow, whether additional officials are implicated and whether eThekwini releases the forensic findings before voters go to the polls.
