Gauteng legislature secretary attempts to refute, with no evidence, corruption claims against MPLs | News24

The Gauteng legislature. (Siyamtanda Capa/News24)

• Linda Mwale, the acting secretary to the Gauteng legislature, attempted to refute a News24 report on corruption and fraud in the legislature. 
• The legislature paid travel stipends to two MPLs who never left South Africa, and more travel and subsistence claims to 32 legislature staffers who were not entitled to them.   
• Mwale claimed the legislature upheld the highest standards of ethics and denied any politically motivated interference.

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The Gauteng legislature has denied that ANC figures, including former speaker Ntombi Mekgwe, covered up a scandal that saw nearly R500 000 in travel and subsistence claims improperly paid to staffers during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In a statement released on Monday morning, acting legislature speaker Linda Mwale said any notion of impropriety was misplaced and that the “esteemed institution” was unwavering in its commitment to “good governance and ethical leadership”. 

Mwale said: “The Gauteng legislature is a well-respected and credible institution which plays a critical role in the governance of this province. As a legislative body responsible for overseeing government departments in Gauteng, the [legislature] remains fully committed to its core mandate of ensuring that public funds are used effectively, efficiently and transparently.”

The statement follows a News24 investigation which set out how Mekgwe and others in the ANC had moved to halt disciplinary action against 32 members of legislature support staff and allegedly hounded out then-secretary Peter Skosana, seemingly because his pursuit jeorpardised the ANC’s election campaign. 

The report also drew in deputy legislature speaker Nomvuyo Mhlakaza-Manamela and ANC MPL Lesego Makhubela, who were paid healthy travel stipends for overseas trips that did not take place in 2022 and 2023. 

READ | Gauteng legislature fires secretary, turns blind eye to corruption, fraud

Mhlakaza-Manamela received a total of R72 415 in three stipends for trips to conferences in the UK, Canada and Cameroon between June 2022 and July 2023. Makhubela received R43 500 to go on a study tour to Washington and New York in June 2023.

As regards the 32 legislature support staff, R335 000 was paid to employees who were not entitled to the claims as they could not have incurred the expenditure during lockdown. 

News24 reported that the Auditor-General picked up the wasteful and irregular expenditure in an audit, which required the administrative arm of the legislature to address by recovering the public funds. Following the adverse audit finding, Skosana engaged law firm BDO to investigate.

His move on the MPLs and the employees prompted a response from the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu). Skosana was later pushed out of his post after being placed on precautionary suspension for insubordination. 

“It is further alleged that you willfully and defiantly failed to obey a reasonable and lawful instruction issued to you by Ntombi Lentheng Mekgwe, the speaker of the legislature, to enter into a settlement with Nehawu to bring this matter to finality,” Mekgwe wrote in a precautionary suspension letter to Skosana in March. 

A month later, Skosana accepted a R6-million settlement to walk away from the remaining 20 months of his employment. He was prohibited from disclosing the circumstances of his departure from the legislature.

ALSO READ | DA calls for immediate resignation of corruption-accused Gauteng MPLs

Mwale claimed the information contained in News24’s article was false, without providing any evidence to back up his assertions. 

“The article falsely alleges that the institution fired Mr Skosana for initiating a disciplinary process to recover the funds. The legislature refutes the statement that Mr Skosana was dismissed,” Mwale said. 

He added that claims of Mekgwe and/or other members of the legislature having interfered with disciplinary processes or halted investigations into employees and the two MPLs were simply not factual and untrue.

“Concerning the disciplinary process related to travel claims by 32 employees, its genesis was initiated and investigated by the institution. However, the cost of investigation and disciplinary actions using external service providers was found to be excessive, and far outweighing the possible overpayment that was still a subject of investigation. 

“Therefore, [the Gauteng legislature] decided to use internal processes to deal with the matter,” he said. 

“News24 reported that two MPLs, Honourable Nomvuyo Mhlakaza-Manamela and Honourable Lesego Makhubela, have been accused of defrauding the legislature … Both MPLs neither committed any fraud nor were subjected to any forensic investigation initiated by former secretary Mr Skosana. Honorable Mhlakaza-Manamela was scheduled to undertake an official trip to Cameroon but could not do so due to ill-health.

“Makhubela was supposed to undertake a study tour to the USA but was unable to travel because his passport [and] visa [were] not available at the airport at the time of departure, as [they were] still at the US Consul. He was paid a R43 457 in stipend, and the process to recover this amount is under way. Honourable Makhubela has also since informed the [legislature] of his willingness to repay the amount, with recovery processes currently in progress,” Mwale said.  

He added that Mhlakaza-Manamela was paid R34 000, as opposed to the R72 415 as reflected in the News24 article, and had since informed the legislature of her willingness to repay the amount, with the recovery processes in progress. 

Mwale’s statement is, however, silent on why the funds have yet to be recovered more than a year since the two MPLs pocketed the stipends.

The DA has since called for the immediate resignation of the implicated MPLs and submitted an urgent ethics complaint against them.

In a statement on Monday, DA Gauteng leader, Solly Msimanga said the party had reported the MPLS to the integrity commissioner at the legislature. 

“No public institution should be used to protect corrupt officials. No political party should interfere with any disciplinary process that is undertaken when MPLs or employees are implicated in corrupt activities,” said Msimanga in the statement.