Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille is calling for the head of Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile following the leaking of the Pillay report, compiled after a public commission on the Eastern Cape’s financial dealings spanning a decade.
”Given the gravity of the findings of the leaked Pillay commission report, there is simply no way that Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile can be allowed to continue in office,” Zille said on Thursday.
”President Mbeki must act swiftly and remove Stofile from his Cabinet. Stofile must be given a chance to clear his name in a court of law but, until this happens, he has no place in government.”
The report was published this week by the Daily Dispatch in the Eastern Cape
And according to the newspaper, it is accusatory and critical in the extreme of politicians such as Stofile, the former premier of the province and Enoch Godongwana, who was provincial minister for economic affairs and finance at the same time.
It rebukes the provincial government for its lack of oversight and the freedom it allowed institutions such as the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, and for the manner in which politicians such as Godongwana and Stofile benefited from what is described as a ”clearly orchestrated siphoning off of money from the fiscus”.
It is alleged that Stofile and the other two siphoned off almost R200-million from the Eastern Cape provincial administration’s public coffers through dubious deals to their wives and relatives. According to the report, another R250-million is unaccounted for.
Zille said that the current Premier of the Eastern Cape, Nosimo Balindlela, has resisted the release of the report for over a year, and apparently ”begged” the press not to release the leaked report.
”Now we know why,” Zille said. ”If the premier deliberately attempted to cover up the report she must also be removed from office.”
Zille added that Mbeki must send out a clear message that corruption — no matter which faction of the African National Congress the perpetrator belongs to — will not be tolerated by this government.
”He has previously shown that he is willing to act only against those he views as political threats, such as Jacob Zuma and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, yet will go out of his way to protect his allies, such as Jackie Selebi,” she said.
”It is easy to see how 90% of South Africans see corruption as a way of life when half-a-billion rand can disappear from the coffers of a provincial administration. It is a reflection of the amorality of sections of our political leadership and an indictment of the financial management system in some administrations.” — I-Net Bridge