The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) will soon lodge court papers demanding that the KwaZulu-Natal government release a forensic report on rampant corruption in the department of agriculture, the party said on Monday.
”The report which confirms rampant mismanagement, fraud, corruption and nepotism in the department has been deliberately withheld from Parliament and public scrutiny. We have decided to take the matter to court,” said IFP premier candidate, Zanele Magwaza-Msibi.
Problems in the department began in 2006 when it emerged that it had overspent its budget by more than R125-million and that more than R80-million had gone missing.
Then provincial agriculture minister Gabriel Ndabandaba was removed from his position when corruption was discovered in the department.
He was replaced by Mtholephi Mthimkhulu and the head of the department, Jabulani Mjwara, was replaced by Modidima Mannya.
Addressing the media in Durban on Monday, Msibi said the rot began in 2001 when the African National Congress-nominated Ndabandaba appointed ANC cronies, in a move which caused an exodus of experienced staff.
‘Money-making scheme’
”Since 2004, when the ANC took over the province on its own terms, the department has effectively been turned into a money-making scheme for contractors aligned to the ANC, eating up taxpayers’ money and alienating commercial farmers and emerging farmers alike.”
Under Mjwara, jobs, lucrative tenders, generous subsidies and golden handshakes went to ANC affiliates, many of them high-profile public representatives, Msibi said.
Outlining what had happened in the department, Msibi said her party had in 2006 called for an investigation into mismanagement of the department.
This was followed by an internal investigation which turned into a forensic report conducted by Ernst & Young.
In June 2007, the forensic audit report was presented to the provincial minister for agriculture and the department of finance took the report to the Scorpions, now known as the Directorate for High Priority Crimes Unit.
Mjwara resigned in April 2007 to avoid prosecution, said Msibi.
”We again this year demanded a debate on this matter … and our request was turned down by the office of the speaker.”
The IFP on Monday said it was concerned that the ANC-led provincial government continued to fail to turn the situation around in the department.
Mthimkhulu suspended Mannya as the head of department in 2008, allegedly following tensions between him and other senior managers.
Disciplinary proceedings emanated from an inquiry which had been instituted by the office of Premier S’bu Ndebele last November into allegations of unhappiness among staff, including senior managers, as a result of Mannya’s management style.
Siddiq Adam, the current acting head of department, is reportedly also not enjoying his position. Recently, calls for Adam and Mthimkhulu to be sacked were made by members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, Public Servants Association and National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers.
The two were accused of failing to turn around a department plagued with administration scandals.
Other controversies include the Nguni cattle project, where the wives of government ministers, including of Premier S’bu Ndebele, received cattle meant to help emerging farmers.
Responding to the IFP’s move, Mthimkhulu described it as electioneering.
‘Clear politicking’
”It is not true that we are hiding the report. We released it and we took them through the report. I regard this as clear politicking.
”If I take you through a document and you are at liberty to take notes, what more do you want? Do they want then content of the report or papers?”
Mthimkhulu said the report could not be handed over to all parties because that would jeopardise the investigation.
”We cannot hand over the report to them because the whole matter is with the Directorate for High Priority Crimes Unit.
”The matter is in the hands of the prosecutors,” said Mthimkhulu.
The department had also written a letter to the unit requesting that the matter be sped up, he said. — Sapa