JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Thursday 6.00pm.
SOUTH Africa’s top corruption investigator, Judge Willem Heath, has been asked to investigate senior Mpumalanga Parks Board directors and officials for corruption after they allegedly issued irregular promissory notes to a series of international financial institutions.
Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa confirmed in a statement to African Eye News Service on Thursday that he had appealed to President Nelson Mandela earlier in the day to urgently mandate Heath to investigate the still unnamed officials and board members.
Phosa added that Heath would also be requested to investigate the commercial activities and international travel undertaken by board members and MPB officials.
Meanwhile the MPB is in such dire financial straits that its mother department will disband it by the end of September unless the province manages to convince national government to allocate an additional R38-million.
The MPB was allocated R20-million at the beginning of the current financial year but used half of the budget to settle its R10-million bank overdraft and the remainder on staff salaries for two months.
“There simply hasn’t been any money in their account since the end of June. I’ve tried to scratch around for additional funds in my own department but only managed to squeeze R3-million out for them,” said the province’s new environmental affairs MEC, Fish Mahlalela.