Peter Mokaba used his ministerial credit card to buy clothes, groceries and sweets, writes Andy Duffy
An internal investigation by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has found that Deputy Minister Peter Mokaba spent thousands of rands of taxpayers’ money on personal expenses.
Department officials reported late last year that Mokaba had used his ministerial credit card for a string of personal items, spending more than R17 200 in nine months on clothes, groceries and sweets.
Officials also probed the R374 000 the department spent on its delegation to the United States/South Africa binational commission in Washington last July. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Pallo Jordan led the 14- strong delegation.
The officials found that Mokaba and his private secretary alone had cost the department nearly R70 000 on the trip – a bill that included R7 360 for clothes for the deputy minister.
Mokaba this week strenuously denied any wrongdoing. He added that no department official has queried his expenses on the Washington trip. He said he bought the clothes because his luggage never arrived.
Mokaba said he did repay some of the credit card expenditure. But he says the bulk – R13 098 for clothing bought from a boutique in the tax-haven principality of Monaco – was justified. That clothing was needed because his luggage again went astray, this time en route to Tunisia, where he was attending official business.
The credit-card records show Mokaba spent a further R2 400 on clothing from the same boutique last May. But Mokaba said he was not in Monaco at the time.
“The department has never asked or had any cause to raise concern or to ask for any refund from myself,” Mokaba says. “This is so because I account for every cent spent and repay without being prompted by anybody to do so.”
He adds that all his expenditure is accounted for with vouchers, statements and, “where necessary”, affidavits “where policy is not established or is unclear. I have returned from my travels to ask the department to investigate the issues and develop policy to enable us to work within the law.”
The department’s report on the investigation, dated October 24 last year, notes: “We have also discussed the issue of the deputy minister using his Diners Club card for other purposes than it’s been issued for. Herewith a list of some of the cases.”
The list includes CNA (R37,80), Pick ‘n Pay (R616,20), Upstairs & Downstairs (twice, R161,40), Society Club Monaco (twice, R15 496,59) and Incredible Connection (twice, R490). “No vouchers was [sic] received,” the report adds.
The report was by the department’s finance deputy director Andreas Venter to Tanya Abrahamse, acting department director general. Neither was prepared to comment this week.
Corporate services director Madindwa Mashinini, who was also involved in the probe, says the department told Mokaba “that the card should not be used for personal items. We need to make sure we get adequate explanations, and my understanding is that he was asked to refund these costs.”
The department had not agreed with Mokaba’s justification for the clothing expenditure. The issue had been passed on to the Department of State Expediture for a ruling.
Some officials, Mashinini says, also believe cards in general should be withdrawn, because they “create a lot of tension”.
Jordan says he knows nothing about the department’s concerns over Mokaba’s spending. But, he says, “if the allegations are true, there would have been no way of checking them without receipts from Diners Club. So it would be dumb to withdraw the cards.”
The department’s report is not the first question raised about Mokaba’s use of public money. Late last year he agreed to repay R1 400 after it emerged he had used his office facilities to produce and distribute documents for the African National Congress before the party’s conference in Mafikeng.
Jordan had initially refused to answer a parliamentary question relating to the R1 400 expenditure. Both Jordan and Mokaba this week, however, said the investigation into the Washington expenses was triggered by a question in Parliament.
The department has also been worried about the burgeoning number of overseas conventions involving its officials. Mashinini estimates the department last year spent at least R1-million on overseas travel.
“I requested the department some time ago to investigate the issue of our delegations and the role people are playing when we go to international conventions,” Mokaba adds. “It is an attempt to try to look at how we can rationalise spending.”
The early stages of that probe included Jordan personally checking on the bill Mokaba and his private secretary, Muriel Dube, ran up in Washington.
The final report shows that the department’s flights alone cost more than R250 000. Eight of the 14 department representatives flew business class – at R18 300 each – while Jordan’s ticket cost R32 153 and Mokaba’s R25 226.
Jordan says the cost was justified – he agreed to the size of the delegation. But he says he believes Abrahamse has tried to recoup money from individuals. “It was last July,” he adds. “Who remembers?”
Mokaba adds that the department has not approached him for any refund for the trip. He also says he is entitled to take his private secretary along, and that other ministers did the same. “It is correct to do so both in principle and law,” he adds.
The department’s report of its investigation notes its legal division is pursuing Mokaba’s former private secretary, Kaya Nkukwana, for $6 000 – money the Department of Foreign Affairs provided to cover the deputy minister’s costs on the Tunisian trip.
Mokaba says he does not know about the action against Nkukwana and “did not handle the said money or any part of it”.
Mokaba inherited Nkukwana from his predecessor, Bantu Holomisa. A former member of the Transkei Defence Force, Nkukwana has been transferred to the South African National Defence Force. He was unavailable for comment this week.