Public Protector Selby Baqwa’s 16-page exoneration of Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile and MEC for Health Dr Bevan Goqwana is a ”whitewash” based on a ”flimsy, superficial, and insubstantial” investigation, an Eastern Cape corruption watchdog has complained.
The slim report took Baqwa’s office more than 20 months to produce. It is based on a single interview — with Goqwana himself.
The report found ”no adverse conclusions” could be drawn from Goqwana’s ownership of a specialist medical practice and a private ambulance service while he was a state hospital superintendent in 1999 and, later, the health MEC.
It also found Stofile had ”complied substantially” with the Executive Members Ethics Code when he appointed Goqwana, knowing of the potential conflict of interest his businesses posed.
Colm Allan, director of the Public Service Accountability Monitor, lodged the complaint. He described the report as an ”abrogation of the responsibilities of the public protector and a betrayal of his constitutional mandate to defend democracy and the public interest, as opposed to the public image of the executive”.
The Constitution prohibits MECs from engaging in outside paid work, said Allan.
As a public official employed as superintendent of Umtata General hospital before his appointment as MEC, Goqwana flouted the Public Service Act, which prohibits paid outside work and forbids public officials from engaging in actions in conflict with their official duties.
The public protector had accepted Goqwana’s claim that he obtained permission in 1993 from the Transkei administration to engage in private practice. Allan said there had been no corroboration of this claim.
Ray Zungu, the investigator, said only one interview was necessary because most of the facts did not require corroboration.
The investigation had taken many months because of the number of issues to be investigated.