Former Office of the Premier auditor Julie Kriek has described the province’s top office as wracked with financial and administrative ill-discipline and tyranny.
This was the picture painted by Kriek in an exit interview which said her vital oversight audit unit had come under attack from senior OTP officials.
The OTP has rejected Kriek’s views, which are contained in a report seen by the Daily Dispatch.
Kriek refused to speak to the Dispatch or comment on her exit report, saying on Friday that: “It would be wrong for me to speak about what is going on in that office while I am no longer in their employ”.
She resigned in September after five years as director of the unit, citing “differences” with the latest director-general, Marion Mbina-Mthembu.
In her exit interview, Kriek claimed the unit she directed was starved of budget, denied office space and serviceable laptops and generally marginalised.
She claimed that OTP senior staff bullied younger staff and flouted policies, that audit findings were brushed aside and that there was a careless attitude to legal compliance.
OTP spokeswoman Mandisa Titi said: “The depth of toxicity embedded in the remarks allegedly made by someone our government placed in the kind of position that Ms Kriek occupied, sends chills down one’s spine. Is this kind of behaviour acceptable in terms of the ethics and norms that regulate auditors? The OTP has no record of Ms Kriek being the spokesperson of the senior managers in the organisation, therefore we reject as unfortunate the statements attributed to her.”
The premier’s office has for some time been regarded as a bastion of efficiency and action, but in her exit interview Kriek said there were irregularities that left her feeling “depressed, negative and saddened by the state of the department and government in general”.
Kriek claimed that after she resigned, Mbina-Mthembu made her last month difficult and the two powerful women’s “irreparable differences” had caused her to quit immediately.
The Dispatch recently reported that Kriek was booted out of her office by Mbina-Mthembu and told “go and serve your notice at home”.
Kriek claimed policies were flouted and that staff morale buckled under the weight of “draconian working conditions”.
Kriek served as chief audit executive at Masualle’s office from 2011 but resigned at the end of September and was supposed to have served her month’s notice in October.
Her laptop was immediately confiscated and her access to the OTP blocked.
In the exit interview report, Kriek claimed that most senior administrators employed before DG Mbina-Mthembu’s arrival in May last year, were “treated unfairly and disrespected”.
Kriek charges that the internal audit unit was not taken seriously at the OTP, and that she experienced many instances relating to “non-compliance with laws”.
She also lambasted “non-existing security measures” at Masualle’s office, claiming that “the OTP appears to really not care about its staff”.
“There are pockets of excellence which are not recognised, rewarded, or even noticed. This has caused a number of hard-working officials to not be as passionate and to sometimes resign.”
She said among a group of senior managers appointed after Mbina-Mthembu took office last year, “there are some who do not care for, know about or implement departmental policies and processes”.
Asked what could be changed at the OTP, Kriek who had said that audit findings were not implemented at the OTP, recommended that “disrespectful behaviour from some senior management team members towards lower-level staff” be dealt with.
She also claimed that a lack of proper background checking and vetting had led to “the appointment of some disingenuous officials”. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
OTP auditor leaves ‘depressed’ by ‘irregularities’
This was the picture painted by Kriek in an exit interview which said her vital oversight audit unit had come under attack from senior OTP officials.
The OTP has rejected Kriek’s views, which are contained in a report seen by the Daily Dispatch.
Kriek refused to speak to the Dispatch or comment on her exit report, saying on Friday that: “It would be wrong for me to speak about what is going on in that office while I am no longer in their employ”.
She resigned in September after five years as director of the unit, citing “differences” with the latest director-general, Marion Mbina-Mthembu.
In her exit interview, Kriek claimed the unit she directed was starved of budget, denied office space and serviceable laptops and generally marginalised.
She claimed that OTP senior staff bullied younger staff and flouted policies, that audit findings were brushed aside and that there was a careless attitude to legal compliance.
OTP spokeswoman Mandisa Titi said: “The depth of toxicity embedded in the remarks allegedly made by someone our government placed in the kind of position that Ms Kriek occupied, sends chills down one’s spine. Is this kind of behaviour acceptable in terms of the ethics and norms that regulate auditors? The OTP has no record of Ms Kriek being the spokesperson of the senior managers in the organisation, therefore we reject as unfortunate the statements attributed to her.”
The premier’s office has for some time been regarded as a bastion of efficiency and action, but in her exit interview Kriek said there were irregularities that left her feeling “depressed, negative and saddened by the state of the department and government in general”.
Kriek claimed that after she resigned, Mbina-Mthembu made her last month difficult and the two powerful women’s “irreparable differences” had caused her to quit immediately.
The Dispatch recently reported that Kriek was booted out of her office by Mbina-Mthembu and told “go and serve your notice at home”.
Kriek claimed policies were flouted and that staff morale buckled under the weight of “draconian working conditions”.
Kriek served as chief audit executive at Masualle’s office from 2011 but resigned at the end of September and was supposed to have served her month’s notice in October.
Her laptop was immediately confiscated and her access to the OTP blocked.
In the exit interview report, Kriek claimed that most senior administrators employed before DG Mbina-Mthembu’s arrival in May last year, were “treated unfairly and disrespected”.
Kriek charges that the internal audit unit was not taken seriously at the OTP, and that she experienced many instances relating to “non-compliance with laws”.
She also lambasted “non-existing security measures” at Masualle’s office, claiming that “the OTP appears to really not care about its staff”.
“There are pockets of excellence which are not recognised, rewarded, or even noticed. This has caused a number of hard-working officials to not be as passionate and to sometimes resign.”
She said among a group of senior managers appointed after Mbina-Mthembu took office last year, “there are some who do not care for, know about or implement departmental policies and processes”.
Asked what could be changed at the OTP, Kriek who had said that audit findings were not implemented at the OTP, recommended that “disrespectful behaviour from some senior management team members towards lower-level staff” be dealt with.
She also claimed that a lack of proper background checking and vetting had led to “the appointment of some disingenuous officials”. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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