Thursday 16 March 2000
The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi today announced that the internal investigations into the financial management of Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) have been completed and a report given to her.
A special internal audit conducted last year focussed on two matters: unauthorised expenditure and non-compliance with the Tender Board requirements, which resulted in R24 million unauthorised expenditure. While the investigations found that there had been unauthorised expenditure, there had been no fruitless expenditure and would have to be regularised according to treasury rules. They found no evidence of corruption.
Further investigations by both the Department and the Office for Serious Economic Offences also found no evidence that could lead to prosecutions. In January this year, all staff dealing with procurement or expenditure of any kind was trained in rules pertaining to state expenditure and tendering procedures. This was done after realising that non-compliance with treasury rules resulted from back of capacity in those areas.
Of the six staff members named in the report, two appeared before disciplinary hearings and were subsequently warned. There were no grounds for hearings for the other four staff members. All the officials have since signed performance contracts that will be closely monitored by the new programme manager.
This however does not mean that we are less concerned about allegations of any sort. Should any evidence emerge we will pursue such a matter up to the highest court in the country.
We urge the public or any official of the Department to come forward with information. If they wish, they could offer such information to the Public Protector. We want to assure the public and the fishing community of South Africa that we will leave no stone unturned where there is corruption or fraud.
Parliament this week passed the Protected Disclosures Bill, which underscores the commitment of this government to root out corruption by providing protection to whistleblowers in both the public and private sectors.
In an effort to deal with the persistent problems at MCM and transformation generally, we have appointed Mr Horst Kleinschmidt as programme manager from January 2000. His record of dealing with public funds whether local and international, as well as working with Communities, is impeccable.
A post of Deputy-Director General has been advertised. This will ensure that MCM is a branch on its own, thus decentralising decision-making. But until such time financial arrangements at MCM are properly in place, all major financial decisions are being managed from head office in Pretoria and the rest are managed by MCM within well-defined parameters and subject to a structured monitoring system.
Issued by the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Inquiries: Onkgopotse JJ Tabane – Media Liaison Director
082 465 6166 - Tabane@iafrica.com
Didi Moyle: Special Advisor to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Phone: (021) 465 7240/1 or (012) 310 3611 Fax: (021) 465 3216 or (012) 322 0082
moyle@mweb.co.za
cell: 082 808 5108