A leaked report of an internal audit of the department of public enterprises has put the spotlight on turmoil in the department, which inside sources largely blame on the abrasive management style of Director General Portia Molefe.
The department has lost a number of senior officials in the past year. And a number of staffers are said to be contemplating not renewing their contracts.
The internal audit document contains allegations of reckless expenditure as well as details of Molefe’s conflict with officials and numerous other staff complaints, together with management’s response.
Allegations include the regular flouting of procurement procedures, violations of the departmental travel policy and a culture of excessive personal use of departmental cellphones and credit cards by officials.
The report and sources allude to the abnormal amount of contract work outsourced by the department. Suppliers are alleged to have been selected in contravention of the tender committee’s preferred bidders, with the committee being required to backdate approval.
Department sources confirm that an internal auditor was appointed to look into the allegations and that the audit was completed early last year. However, they say, no action has since been taken.
They told the Mail & Guardian that staff morale is at an all-time low. One accused Molefe of surrounding herself with a cabal of officials, saying those outside this favoured group are sidelined.
‘She sidelines everybody and makes them feel completely useless,†said the source. ‘If you are not part of her clique, you’re just screwed.â€
The source said at least six senior officials had recently quit the department. Former head of communication, Andrew Aphane, is one such official who was at loggerheads with Molefe. The leaked audit report and other public enterprises officials confirmed that Molefe forced Aphane out at the end of 2005.
They also attribute the conflict public enterprises has had with other government departments, such as the department of communications over the Infraco project, to Molefe’s aggressive style.
Public enterprises officials said responsibility for the department’s failure to secure funding for key infrastructure projects, such as Infraco, in Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s recent budget, could be attributed to Molefe, who had failed to get the project’s business plans in order.
The internal auditor was asked to investigate the appointment of consultants, including communications company Groove, appointed at an annual cost of R3-million. Staffers believed procurement policies had been flouted and the service they were providing could be handled by the communications department, the audit report said.
One public enterprises staffer alleges in the report that an IT project manager was appointed on a temporary basis despite the fact that an official was already in place to manage the department.
The internal auditor was also asked to look into the appointments of consultants Yardstick, Resolve, Leonard Carr and Yunis Shaik, after department officials claimed procurement policies had been flouted.
One staffer alleged in the report that public enterprises’ director of administration, Henry Stopworth, took up the violation of procurement policies with Molefe, who then asked for his resignation.
Molefe is accused in the report of reserving a Cape Town apartment bought by the department to save money on officials’ travel costs, for her exclusive use, and then choosing to stay in hotels when she visits the city on business.
She also stands accused of alleged excessive spending on international trips, while the audit report highlights a culture of travel policy violations, with staff flying business class to Cape Town when they are entitled only to fly economy class.
The report alleges that vehicles are rented by the department for personal use at weekends and often for the use of bodyguards.
The M&G sent a list of questions to both the department and Molefe for response. Molefe did not reply, but the chief director of communications, Vimla Maistry, said the department would not comment on Molefe’s relationship with staff as it was a matter of subjective opinion.
‘The matters raised in your email were allegations made prior to the 2005/06 audit of the department. These matters were brought to the attention of the audit committee and were addressed as part of a special audit which was conducted at the time by the office of the auditor-general, as reflected in the 2005/06 annual report of the department,†said Maistry.
She added that the matters had been dealt with.
Task team focuses on healing the ANC
The ANC task team investigating internal turmoil in the party and the origin and credibility of emails implicating leaders in an anti-Jacob Zuma campaign is likely to outline a political process to heal the rift in the party rather than recommend punitive measures.
The task team met with senior ANC leaders late into Wednesday night to discuss how to present its report to the ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting, which convened on Thursday and will continue until Sunday.
The team was investigating the credibility of certain emails, which purport to show exchanges between certain Thabo Mbeki-aligned party leaders about how to neutralise ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma and Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe (below).
Former national intelligence agency boss Billy Masetlha is believed to have made a presentation showing the task team that the emails were authentic. However, according to Mail & Guardian sources the task team is unlikely to make decisive findings in this regard.
The task team is expected to say that because of limited capacity it was unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the emails might be genuine. But one source close to the investigation told the M&G that the report could finger a foreign entity interested in destroying South Africa’s political and economic stability as responsible for the emails.
The emails are a subject of intense contestation between ANC President Thabo Mbeki, who was reportedly unhappy with Motlanthe giving them undue credibility, and Motlanthe, who insisted that the party investigate them and even distributed them at an NEC meeting.
Initially, many in the Zuma camp in the ANC harboured hopes that the report would pronounce harshly on the ‘aloof†leadership style of Mbeki. But it is now expected that it will not mention names, but will make the point that the style of leadership in the party does not encourage a climate of debate and democracy and has instead fostered a culture of fear of the leadership. This issue of leadership style is expected to lead to heated discussions during what some ANC leaders expect to be a historical NEC meeting in defining the future direction of the party.
Other important discussions are expected to focus on whether the ANC has been able to influence government policies or whether the opposite has been the case.
ANC Head of Presidency Smuts Ngonyama said that another item on the agenda is the series of discussion documents which must be finalised and distributed to branches ahead of the policy conference in June. — Mail & Guardian reporter