The secretary to the South African Parliament, Sindiso Mfenyana, has reported that his finance management office had received veiled threats following its investigations into the alleged abuse of parliamentary travel vouchers.
Earlier this year Mfenyana announced that a probe had been ordered into suspected fraudulent use of travel facilities provided to members of Parliament.
At the time Mfenyana said early inquiries revealed that Parliament may have been defrauded of thousands of rands.
The allegations pointed to the defrauding of Parliament through issuing invoices for travel tickets for routes that members did not travel, he noted at the time.
Now, Mfenyana reported that since February the finance management office of Parliament had been conducting a review, under his instructions, of documentation related to invoices.
”The review was prompted by discrepancies discovered between the amounts actually billed to Parliament and the average cost of the tickets to be to the indicated destinations.
”Reaction from some of these agencies has ranged from veiled threats to accusations of racist attempts to destroy small black companies.”
He said there had also been attempts to apply pressure on Parliament and its staff on grounds that further revelations on this issue would discredit Parliament and/or its members.
”In spite of this, I have received the full backing of the Presiding Officers of Parliament [Speaker Frene Ginwala and National Council of Provinces chairperson Naledi Pandor] to proceed with the investigation regardless of those involved. A forensic investigation is now underway with close co-operation of the airlines.”
”In my view, failure to disclose the facts would discredit all parties, including the agencies implicated. It is, in fact, the duty of the agencies, who were properly briefed by our management office on the correct procedures, to act in keeping with procedures.”
”It is equally the duty of Parliament and its administration to pursue any alleged fraudulent acts, whether perpetrated by large companies or SMMEs striving for black empowerment. Failure to do so would undermine the integrity of the institution.” – I-Net Bridge