Gauteng’s ties to SAP and KPMG face scrutiny

Gauteng’s new Ethics Advisory Council will analyse the province’s ties to disgraced auditors KPMG and multinational software corporation SAP in order to advise Premier David Makhura on which steps to take in doing business with them.

The companies have been accused of enabling state capture through their dealings with the controversial Gupta family.

Makhura said he wanted the new ethics committee, led by civil society, to give advice on the matter.

He said he would take the committee’s recommendations to the executive council.

“I said to the ethics council ‘you must have teeth’. I can’t ignore their advice,” he said.

TEAM OF ACTIVISTS

Makhura pointed out it was not only KPMG that was embroiled in the scandal. McKinsey and SAP had also been fingered, and there was probably more to come. The province, however, did no business with McKinsey, Makhura said.

The team advising Makhura consists of, among others, civil society activists such as David Lewis from Corruption Watch and Nonkululeko Gobodo, founder of audit firm Sizwe-Ntsaluba-Gobodo.

The council is chaired by Dr Terrence Nombembe, the former auditor-general of SA.

In October, Gauteng finance MEC Barbara Creecy said in a written reply in the legislature that Gauteng had entered into contracts worth R6.2m with KPMG from the 2013-14 financial year until now.

Of this, R4m had been paid to the auditors.

KPMG has been contracted for internal auditing services as well as for auditing some of the tenders in Gauteng’s flagship Open Tender system.

The Gauteng government departments use SAP’s operating systems.