GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — Following the guilty verdict in a court case against the acting municipal manager of the Dr Beyers Naudé Municipality, Rev Noël Pietersen, last week, the Advertiser approached Pietersen for comment.

Pietersen was found guilty on five counts in the Oudtshoorn Regional Court on Wednesday, December 7.

He was convicted of fraud and theft that occurred during his time serving as Oudtshoorn’s municipal manager and will be sen-tenced in the new year.

The court found he abused his position to facilitate illegal tenders and used public funds for political agendas.

Rev Noël Pietersen commented on the verdict as follows:

“I have taken note of the guilty verdict against me. I want to state that no facts were divulged during the court proceedings that justify this verdict.

Sentencing will be dealt with in court on March 31, 2017, and subsequent to this I will consider appealing the verdict.

It is important to note that this verdict is what I call a “precedent-case” for all accounting officers and municipal managers who allow the use of the deviation of the supply chain processes that is stipulated in the Municipal Finance Management Act, which actually gives the Accounting Officer the powers to deviate from the Supply Chain processes in cases of emergencies.

Regarding my current contract, the facts will be tabled before and dealt with by, the Council.

But I need to state this clearly: There is legislation that provides for the deviation of the SCM processes and if utilising this leg-islation to achieve sound financial finding in the municipality, then I am guilty.

I also want to state that all the state’s witnesses, with the exception of two, corroborated with my statement.

I believe that the High Court will see this and find in favour of me. I am prepared to go to the highest of courts to restore honour to my name.

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