THURSDAY, 5.30PM
AUDITOR-General Henri Kluever on Thursday responded to allegations by Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Penuell Maduna that he had dishonestly accounted for R170-million missing from the Strategic Fuel Fund by saying his office’s handling of the SFF accounts was honest and above board.
“I have been in the civil service all my life and I have never stolen a bloody penny,” he said.
Any allegations that he had deliberately tried to mislead Parliament could lead to legal action, he said.
Kluever said he believed the minister had “got his facts wrong”, but he had not had time to examine properly the substance of Maduna’s allegations. He said all audit reports were to an extent a reflection of the opinion of the auditor and no auditor was infallible. He repeated that his assessment had been an honest one.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
GOVT BAILS OUT ERPM The imminent closure of the marginal, loss-making East Rand Proprietary Mines has been stayed after a last-minute agreement by government to sponsor costs at the mine to the tune of R1-million a month. Randgold, which operates the mine and has a small stake in it, applied on August 9 to have the mine liquidated, prompting the government action. The rescue deal will continue until next April, when a new ERPM board will decide on a long-term rescue plan. Further operational setbacks at the mine, however, might result in a halt to the subsidy support.
CABINET OKs STRIDE REPORT A CABINET committee has accepted, with one exception, the proposals of the Stride committee on restructuring Transnet’s ailing pension fund. The rejected recommendation was that Transnet sunsidiaries pay a total of R4,2-billion to the fund. The Transent pension fund’s R10-billion deficit is a major stumbling block to government plans to privatise Transenet’s businesses.