JOHANNESBURG - Two more top officials at the Maluti-A-Phofung local municipality in the Free State have been arrested for alleged fraud and corruption following the awarding of a security tender, the Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigation (better known as the Hawks) said on Monday.

The two, chief financial officer Nrateng Khumalo and expenditure manager Diakanyo Khampepe, both women, were arrested on Thursday and subsequently appeared in the Phuthaditjhaba Magistrate's Court on Friday. They were granted R10,000 and R1,000 bail respectively, said Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.

"It is alleged that the accused conspired and colluded during October 2016 and awarded a company called Zero Tolerence a tender to provide protection and security services at the municipality without following correct supply chain management processes in terms of Municipal Finance Management Act. The municipality reportedly lost almost R4.6 million as a result of the alleged irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure."

Khumalo and Khampepe's arrest followed that of other four senior officers at the municipality, a Zero Tolerence company director in December last year, by the Hawks' Serious Corruption Investigation unit.

Khumalo and Khampepe will appear in court again in April alongside Robert Tsupa, Abraham Moratwe Mofokeng, Mabidikwana Wilfred Matjele, and Nkgaudise Nelson Molefe.