By Sihle Mavuso
KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka is facing multiple inquiries after a whistleblower accused him of interfering in a lease process involving a building used by his department.
The inquiries began after the whistleblower sent a letter to the Auditor-General of South Africa, the Office of the Premier in KwaZulu-Natal, the Public Protector and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), among others.
In the letter, the whistleblower asked the authorities to investigate claims that Hlomuka allegedly arm-twisted departmental staff not to begin the process of notifying the provincial Department of Public Works and Infrastructure that the lease on offices in central Ladysmith, which house uThukela district operations, was due to expire.
According to the whistleblower, the department is paying R1.7 million a month for the building even though it is allegedly in a bad state and does not have the 30 garages for staff that it was said to have.
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