Justin Arenstein in Nelspruit
Mpumalanga’s provincial government “ran out of patience” with its former high-rolling government consultant, Ntsoaki Mohapi, this week and asked South Africa’s most powerful investigation body, the Heath Special Investigative Unit, to extract the R220 000 she owes the government.
Mohapi paid herself the money, at a rate of R15 000 a day, more than two years ago while chairing a task team with fellow high roller, Eugene Nyati. The task team’s mandate was to advise the provincial government and its parastatals on how to be more cost-effective.
Both Mohapi and Nyati were ordered to repay just over R1-million to the government after the press revealed their R15 000-a- day salaries and their knack for hiring unqualified friends to perform complex technical tasks for the task team.
Nyati repaid R800 000 almost immediately but Mohapi, who at the time said she had invested the money and bought a house, has reportedly failed to refund even part of her portion.
One year of government negotiations with Mohapi failed after her legal team pointed out there had been no formal contract between Mohapi, Nyati and the government, and also no terms of reference setting out either consultant’s job description. The state, the laywers said, had no claim against Mohapi as she had been within her rights to pay herself “reasonably”.
Internal investigations and detailed questions from the legislature have also failed to reveal who appointed either consultant.
“We instituted a legal civil suit against her about eight months ago and have also just forwarded all our documents on Mohapi, including every letter, memorandum and calculation to Judge [Willem] Heath. In addition, the matter is under discussion between the judge and Premier Mathews Phosa,” confirmed a senior official in Phosa’s office.
The special unit’s chief investigator, Jonathan Dutton, stressing that he had only received Mohapi’s background file from Mpumalanga on Wednesday, said he would investigate exactly who recommended her and Nyati to the government and who had appointed them.
In addition to Mohapi’s debt, the unit is also “on the verge” of recovering more than R600 000 from a series of as yet unnamed senior Mpumalanga department directors who allegedly irregularly convinced the state to pick up their private transport and home accommodation expenses. – African Eye News Service