While most smokers and drinkers suffered through lockdown without entjies and dop, senior Saldanha Bay Municipality officials fed their addictions by raiding the stockpile confiscated from the community.
But GOOD West Coast organiser Sammy Claasen won't let the Saldanha Bay Municipality get away with the theft.
While the DA-led municipality has been scrambling to cover-up its crimes, Claasen's campaign for the truth is beginning bearing fruit.
He confirmed to WAARHEID! that he had been interviewed by a senior police investigator – days after a former senior official in the fire department publicly blew the lid on the thefts, in an interview on Weskus Windjie, a West Coast online radio channel.
Former fireman Junaine Manuel said senior members of the municipality, including himself, helped themselves to cartons of cigarettes and bottles of strong liquor whenever they felt like it.
Manuel named a number of top officials who participated in the thefts, providing detailed information including modus operandi and dates of thefts he was aware of.
He presented this evidence in an affidavit to the Municipal Manager and senior DA officials, Manuel said. But they were intent on covering up their pals' involvement and laying all the blame on him.
According to the municipality, it has returned 4653 packets of cigarettes to shop owners. But it's not saying how many packets it confiscated from the people, in the first place. It said it dealt with one incident of theft through an internal disciplinary process, and a second incident was under investigation by the police and its own Law Enforcement division.
It said the reason confiscated alcohol was kept on municipal premises was because it had helped the police to transport it.
In a post on Facebook, Claasen congratulated Manuel for his courage and called for the DA to suspend the Mayor and Municipal Manager, and take the people into their confidence."
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