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Johannesburg - Both the chief executive and financial director of one of Mpumalanga's largest water supply companies have been suspended on a string of corruption charges.
Bushbuckridge Water Board (BWB) chief Gibson Nkuna and chief finance officer Hitler Maluleke have been suspended following a preliminary forensic audit into the parastatal's finances.
The audit report has been handed to BWB's board for consideration, but has not yet been released publicly.
Board chairperson Patience Nyakane-Maluka confirmed the suspensions on Friday, but refused to comment further for fear of prejudicing both the internal disciplinary process and possible criminal charges.
Nyakane-Maluka said: "All I can say at this stage is that I can confirm that we commissioned an investigation, that we have suspended Nkuna and Maluleke, and that they have been charged with a range of suspected irregularities."
She also confirmed that BWB is preparing a disciplinary tribunal to grill the two suspended executives on aspects of the alleged mismanagement and financial abuses.
Nkuna said he had not yet been served with formal charges and did not know his alleged crime.
Nkuna said: "I haven't heard a word from the (BWB) since they suspended me. . . all I was told when they suspended me was that there had been an investigation into the board's financial affairs.
"I'm not certain what the findings were, or whether all the investigations have been completed. I'm innocent, so (I) am just as eager as you to know."
Maluleke also said he too had not yet received any formal charges, and had not yet heard from the BWB.
Maluleke said: "My only contact was when they demanded my (BWB issue) cellphone and laptop ," said Maluleke. The equipment was apparently needed for the audit.
The BWB is tasked with providing bulk water supplies to one of South Africa's poorest rural regions - the densely populated Bushbuckridge and Bohlabela region.
The area is home to an estimated two million people, most of whom live in deep rural villages or the sprawling peri-urban townships abutting the Kruger National Park.
BWB operates on a R30m a year budget, employing 255 staff and also manages Injaka and other major local storage dams.