MEMBERS of Parliament’s portfolio committee on international relations say they are disappointed after Naledi Pandor snubbed a meeting where she was expected to explain the suspension of DIRCO director-general, Kgabo Mahoai.
The portfolio committee on international relations wants Pandor to explain her reasons for putting Mahoai on precautionary suspension.
Mahoai’s suspension comes after revelations the department spent R118 million for a piece of land in New York, which did not exist.
“The Minister lost an opportunity to take the committee into its confidence and explain how she arrived at the decision for a precautionary suspension of the current Director-General (DG), Mr Kgabo Mahoai,” said the chairperson of the committee, Tandi Mahambehlala.
The committee resolved that Pandor should be invited again to account on the matter.
Mahambehlala said the department had also been expected to provide further details that would have enabled the committee to make a determination on the extent to which the current DG is implicated in the procurement relating to the New York project.
The department has incurred R118 million in irregular expenditure arising from the scandal.
The committee emphasised that it does not wish to interfere in the department’s internal affairs.
However, the committee said it was concerned that it learned through the media that the Minister had placed the DG under precautionary suspension, reportedly as part of implementing the oversight report’s recommendations.
“This is tantamount to undermining the authority of Parliament and it is also disregarding the thinking capacity of Parliament,” said Mahambehlala.
The committee believes that the department should align itself with recommendation 12.13 of the oversight report, which provides for the immediate recall and investigation into the role played in the matter by the former DG, Ambassador Jerry Matjila.
The committee said it saw no reason to suspend the current DG.
“The committee is indeed taken by surprise,” Ms Mahambehlala pointed out, “because the irregularities identified by the Auditor-General are related to the signing off and awarding of the tender by the former DG in 16 March 2016.”
The R118 million was paid because there was already an obligation under that contract, according to the committee.
“The tender was awarded despite many discrepancies, which the former DG ignored,”Mahambehlala said.
An Auditor-General’s report identified officials in the department who should be held responsible for the irregularly awarded tender, including the former DG, the chief financial officer and the Chief Director: Property Management.
The committee’s report also recommends action against these individuals, as well as other members of the bid adjudication committee.
(SOURCE: INSIDE POLITICS)
