The Eastern Cape premier’s wife became a partner in a hunting company shortly before it bid for hunting concessions
Nawaal Deane
A hunting company that has won a lucrative government contract in the Eastern Cape hired the provincial premier’s wife as a partner and shareholder before securing the tender.
It is the second time this year that Nambita Stofile, the wife of Premier Makhenkesi Stofile, has been exposed as a director of companies that have contracts with the provincial government.
She is a director and one-third shareholder of Masekhane Security, which has contracts with a number of government departments. Now it has emerged that she is also a partner in Ian Wilmot Safaris, which was recently awarded a government hunting tender.
Premier Stofile has vigorously defended his wife’s business interests in the face of criticism that these constitute a conflict of interest with his public responsibilities.
Nambita Stofile joined Ian Wilmot Safaris two weeks before the company successfully secured a 42,5% share of hunting rights on state-owned game reserves in the Eastern Cape. Ian Wilmot Safaris has been awarded the tender by the Eastern Cape Tourism Board for the past three years. In December it entered into a black empowerment partnership with Moses Qomoyi and Nambita Stofile.
Colm Allan, director of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) at Rhodes University, which probes corruption and maladministration in the Eastern Cape, says Nambita Stofile’s business interests constitute a conflict of interest with the premier’s official duties.
Allan says the relationship between her companies and the provincial government is inappropriate and in breach of the provisions of the Executive Members Ethics Act of 1998 and the Ministerial Handbook.
The code of conduct set out in the Ministerial Handbook approved by the Cabinet in 1995 specifically prohibits ministers’ family members from serving on the boards of public companies and from owning shares in companies directly connected with the ministers’ official duties. “Like the Provincial Tender Board, all provincial departments fall under the authority of the premier and are ‘directly connected’ with his official duties,” says Allan.
Tender regulations stipulate that Nambita Stofile should have signed a declaration form before the tender was submitted, declaring her position as the premier’s wife. The premier says his wife completed a form he designed, a “financial asset” form that declared her position. “Whoever wants to see it can request the public protector to go through the files,” he says.
Allan says the only authorised way in which the contracts could have been awarded is through an application to the provincial tender board, which has the sole power to procure supplies and services for the province.
The members of the board are appointed by the provincial executive council, which can also terminate their services at any time. The premier is the head of the executive council.
“So what we have is a situation in which the premier appoints the members of the executive council, which in turn appoints the members of the provincial tender board. The board then has to sit and deliberate on whether to renew existing contracts, or award new ones, to a company in which the premier’s wife is a director and shareholder,” says Allan.
Premier Stofile has dismissed suggestions of a conflict of interest with his wife’s business interests. He insists that the tender board is not influenced by his position as premier: “Yes, I do appoint the board but they are an independent body. When we appoint people they do not become your tools. We have nothing to do with their work. We get the recommendation for the tender board from the MEC and I don’t even know who they are.”
Premier Stofile has also rejected the accusation that he failed to comply with legislative provisions. “The code of ethics is still in draft form, it has not been passed. The Ministerial Handbook is nothing else but guidelines yet we are using it as if it is approved. It is not binding.”
Allan says the Executive Ethics Code, which has been promulgated in the Government Gazette, and the South African Constitution prohibit members of the executive from exposing “themselves to any situation involving the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and their private interests”.
Qomoyi, appointed by Nambita Stofile to comment on her behalf and on behalf of Wilmot Safaris, also dismisses allegations that her position as the premier’s wife in any way influenced the tender decision. “Wilmot Safaris has been involved in the hunting industry for 17 years and Nambita has been involved in community work in the rural areas alongside these government games reserves. But Wilmot Safaris has received the tender in the past, before she became a partner.”
Allan disagrees that there is no conflict of interest. “PSAM is of the opinion that it is not appropriate for a company in which the premier’s wife has a financial interest to apply for contracts with provincial administration departments,” he says.
Both the premier and Qomoyi argue that Nambita Stofile is an independent business woman in her own right and should have the right to conduct her business. “She is not an appendage of the premier. These codes are sexist and need to be debated,” says Qomoyi.
Qomoyi refused to comment on whether the premier and his wife are married in community of property, as that would indicate a direct conflict of interest in this case.
The code also covers questions of potential or real conflict of interest and requires executive members to withdraw from any meeting of the executive council involving a matter in which the member has any personal financial or business interest (unless the president or premier decides that the member’s interest is trivial or not relevant).
“The premier and members of the provincial executive should be leading by example and should be seen to abide by the highest possible ethical standards,” says Allan.