Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana is expected to report to Parliament on his probe into the so-called Oilgate affair before month-end, his office said on Friday.
The investigation, into claims about the alleged misuse of public money involving state oil company PetroSA, should be concluded in the next two to three weeks, spokesperson Selby Bokaba said.
Mushwana will then report on his findings to the National Assembly.
Department of Minerals and Energy spokesperson Yvonne Mfolo said there is no departmental investigation into the matter as yet .
”Once we have the outcome of the public protector’s investigation, we will act according to those outcomes and recommendations.”
The National Prosecuting Authority has declined to investigate pending the conclusion of Mushwana’s probe.
The investigation was launched last month following a complaint from the Freedom Front Plus against PetroSA and two Cabinet ministers. The party’s complaint arose from an exposé published by the Mail & Guardian.
The complaint related partly to claims that black empowerment company Imvume Management had paid R11-million of a sum of R15-million it had received from PetroSA to the ruling African National Congress prior to last year’s general elections.
The money was intended to have procured oil condensate for PetroSA, which Imvume allegedly never supplied.
The party also called for a probe into the nature of business relationships between Imvume and close relatives of the then minister of minerals and energy — now Deputy President — Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and of Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya.
Mlambo-Ngcuka’s businessman brother Bonga Mlambo allegedly received a payment of R50 000 from Imvume’s CEO, Sandi Majali.
On Thursday, the Department of Minerals and Energy called a media conference to explain Majali’s inclusion in an official government visit to Iraq in September 2001.
The trip was partly aimed at exploring the possibility of a government-to-government deal for oil supply to South Africa.
Majali went along at his own request, Director General of Minerals and Energy Sandile Nogxina said in a statement.
”He expected us to explain our black economic empowerment policy to the Iraqis and thus facilitate his negotiations [in an oil deal]. This is a common practice for us whenever we travel with business delegations.”
By undertaking the trip in the company of Imvume, he did not feel he had compromised his office or its oversight of the Strategic Fuel Fund, Nogxina said.
The M&G reported on Friday that Thursday’s press conference, to which only certain media houses were invited, had been an attempt to pre-empt its publishing of ”a new Oilgate exposé”.
The publication was withheld as news broke of Thursday’s bomb explosions in London.
Nogxina on Thursday promised action against any PetroSA officials who may be found to have acted inappropriately.
The FF+ welcomed this undertaking on Friday, but pointed out that the matter now appears to have gained an international dimension.
The M&G reported that a probe into abuse of the United Nations’s Iraqi ”Oil for Food” programme is looking into possible South African involvement. — Sapa