A high-profile member of the Eastern Cape legislature, Enoch Godongwana, has resigned two months after Premier Nosimo Balindlela sacked him as her provincial minister of finance.
Godongwana, who is also the deputy secretary general of the African National Congress in the province, says that his decision had nothing to do with “political pressure” and was his own choice because he believes he has “done his service with the government”.
However his resignation comes amid immense political heat as a result of Balindlela’s decision to fire him.
The move has enraged trade union and tripartite alliance leaders in the province and has widened the gap between the two political factions within the Eastern Cape ANC.
Balindlela has remained tight-lipped about why she dismissed Godongwana and his letter of dismissal is as unclear. “Acting in terms of … the constitution … due to reasons relating to non-compliance on your part as a Member of the Executive Council with your responsibility to account to me as Premier of the Province of the Eastern Cape … I hereby remove you”.
This week the Mail & Guardian obtained a classified auditor general’s report into longstanding mismanagement in the provincial department of economic affairs, environment and tourism that may shed light on some of Balindlela’s controversial decisions — including the dismissal of Godongwana. Under former premier Makhenkesi Stofile, the departments of finance and economic affairs, environment and tourism were combined under Godongwana.
When Balindlela was appointed in April she split the portfolios and appointed Andre de Wet as provincial minister for economic affairs, environment and tourism.
The document, titled Report of the Auditor General on a Special Audit in Respect of Personnel Related Matters and Transfer Payments, was completed in May last year and promptly sank from view, according to de Wet.
The document included numerous hard-line recommendations to rid the department of misconduct. To date, most of these remain unresolved.
“When we took office [in April] this document took us by surprise because we had absolutely no knowledge of it,” said De Wet. “None of the recommendations had been acted upon.”
Among the charges in the report was the improper appointment of 10 senior officials, six of whom are still in government.
Over the two financial years that the report covered — 2000 to 2002 — the auditor general could find no service level agreements between the economic affairs department and the beneficiaries — mainly parastatals. According to Godongwana, at the time that the investigation was under way auditing company KPMG had been hired “to tighten up the service level agreements”.
The report’s findings point less to deliberate corruption and more to rooted incompetence and neglect within the department of regulations and financial management systems.
It is this trend that Balindlela says she is committed to stamping out. However, her opaque hiring and firing style up to now has raised concerns that she is instead involved in a political endgame.
Godongwana says the report was an investigation into “administrative” matters within the department for which the head of department at the time, Limekhaya Vanda, was responsible.
“In terms of the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Service Act I delegated these administrative functions to [Vanda]. The head of department deals with the issues highlighted in the report, not the MEC. It is incorrect to link the report to my dismissal.”
In September this year Vanda left the department to assume the position of acting CEO of the Eastern Cape liquor board. When the M&G contacted him about the report he said “contact the department” and put the phone down.
The premier’s spokesperson, Masiza Mazizi, said: “We are not willing to talk to you on any of these matters. You must interpret them the way that you see them.”
“The critical issue as far as I am concerned is that the report was deliberately kept away from being tabled [in Parliament],” said De Wet. “The issues that are raised in the report are serious stuff.”
Godongwana said that he is undecided about his future plans.