The ANC wants troubled Eastern Cape director-general (DG) Marion Mbina-Mthembu to voluntarily go on leave.
ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi said the decision to advise the ANC-led Bhisho legislature to ask Mbina-Mthembu to go on take voluntarily go on go on special leave was taken in an ANC a provincial executive committee meeting held yesterday in Calata House, the party’s Eastern Cape headquarters, in King William’s Townyesterday.
“If the DG was a member of the ANC, we would ask her to recuse herself from her position with immediate effect, to allow and stay clear so that there can be proper investigations into how theseis millions were spent,” said Ngcukayitobi.
However, He said, but because she was is an employee of the state, the best thing to do was to would be to advise the ANC-led Bhisho legislature to ask get her her to take leave, do that according to government rules.
“The ANC is very worried about the involvement of the then-head of treasury , who happens to be the head of provincial government now, in the various transactions as stated in the public protector’s report. We will have to advise the cabinet and the legislature to follow such a process through, as guided by the processes of governance.” ,” said Ngcukayitobi.
The party It was at an ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting, where the party had invited premier Phumulo Masualle as well as Buffalo City mayor Xola Pakati, OR Tambo mayor Nomakhosazana Meth and King Sabata Dalindyebo’s Dumani Zozo, to an ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting to pave a way forward following the damning findings as contained in the 333-page report released last week by public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.’s report which was released last week. All but Masualle were in attendance.
Ngcukayitobi said Masualle submitted an apology for not attendingthe PEC meeting, saying he was is still consulting his lawyers, and his apology was accepted.
In the report Mkhwebane singled out Mbina-Mthembu, the then chief financial officer of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) Sandile Sentwa, BCM councillors Sindiswa Gomba and Luleka Simon-Ndzele and the metro’s chief financial officer, Vincent Pillay, for allegedly mismanaging millions of rands under the guise of preparing memorial services and bussing mourners to the December 16 2013 funeral of Nelson Mandela.
The report states that Mbina-Mthembu ill wrongly advised the then-Noxolo Kiviet-led cabinet to transfer R330-million – ring-fenced for replacing unsafe schools and other projects of to the ECDC – to be used for the funeral arrangements. About R22-million of it was used to buy T-shirts and branded umbrellas, to transport mourners and to buy fast food.
at Kentucky Fried chicken and MacDonalds.
The ANC party also wants the legislature to form a task team which would conduct its own investigation into the spending spree.
Mkhwebane’s report has recommended that the provincial treasury must conduct such an investigation, but the ANC says the Eastern Cape case is complex as the treasury would be expected to investigate someone who is now in a position of senior authority, as is the case with Mbina-Mthembu, by virtue of her being the director-general of the province.
“The recommendation of treasury investigating their boss in the DG is not feasible in this case. We are not prejudging her(DG), but it is important to give space such that those who are investigating can play their role effectively,” said Ngcukayitobi.
“We will advise the legislature to appoint an ad-hoc committee, to make a thorough investigation about how the money was spent. We are raising that over and above what the public protector wants to do,” he added.
In the affected municipalities, the ANC has instructed its mayors to convene council meetings and form task teams to which will also identifyy implicated officials and councillors implicated in the scandal, and to file criminal 8 (??) charges. accordingly.
Ngcukayitobi said in BCM, such remedial action was is at an advanced stage as those implicated in the scandal were are already facing criminal charges, while and the implicated councillors had been demoted as recommended by the party’s integrity commission. “We are saying the executive mayor, the municipal manager as well as the speaker have to form the committees and identify these individuals so that the same action taken in the BCM case is also applied across the board, until the investigation is concluded,” he added.
The party has also resolved to rope in the integrity committee (IC) to investigate the implicated ANC members accordingly. — zineg@dispatch.co.za