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Axe finally falls on suspended MEC Siqaza

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has dismissed the suspended head of the provincial Department of Arts, Sports, Culture and Recreation. The dismissal comes after she was found guilty of making several attempts to bribe officials of the auditor-general’s office. Provincial government director-general Phindile Baleni announced Makhura’s decision to dismiss Namhla Siqaza on Wednesday after he had received a detailed account of the internal disciplinary processes against Siqaza - which recommended that she be axed with immediate effect. A similar recommendation was made against Siqaza’s junior official, Lorraine Nuku. The acting head of the department, Boy Ngobeni, was expected to serve Nuku with a letter of dismissal as well. According to the evidence presented before a disciplinary inquiry, Siqaza, Nuku and another official, Morwesi More, approached officials in the auditor-general’s office in July last year and tried to persuade them to give the department a clean audit.

This was after the departmental audit outcome showed that more than R800-million in tenders were awarded to companies that did not have valid tax certificates. According to sworn affidavits, Siqaza offered a bribe to a senior manager of the office, Phillip Rakgwale, to conceal how a R246m tender that was irregularly given to Clear Choice for the construction of a provincial archives centre in Kagiso on the West Rand. Other irregular expenditure involved the construction of libraries, which the auditor-general ordered the MEC and head of department to investigate. The officials declined the bribes and reported the matter to the former MEC for Arts, Sports, Culture and Recreation, Molebatsi Bopape.

Bopape then asked the two officials to make sworn affidavits, which she handed over to Makhura. All the findings were contained in the auditor-general's Public Finance Management Act key audit findings for the 2014/15 financial year.

Source: www.iol.co.za
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