Transnet to be grilled on vetting lag

Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts is to question Transnet and other state organs that have shirked their transparency obligations.

Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) is to quiz Transnet and other state organs that have shirked their transparency obligations.

Scopa chairman Themba Godi told Business Day the committee had gone ahead with its decision to subpoena Transnet executives to account to Parliament after they failed to make a scheduled meeting in 2017.

State Security Minister Bongani Bongo told Scopa in December that the Cabinet’s directive to ensure the vetting of all supply chain management staff at departments and stateowned entities was far from complete, three years after it was announced.

It emerged in 2017 that only 56 of the 700 supply chain management staff in Transnet were vetted by State Security.

Godi said that apart from Transnet’s failure to vet procurement staff, the committee would seek an update on the readiness of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) to comply with the Constitutional Court on allowing the South African Post Office (Sapo) to assist in paying social grants.

“We still need to finalise our agenda. We already have Transnet slotted in for January 23 and 24 and we have an interministerial committee for January 30 to brief us on their progress in the Sassa-Sapo contract,” Godi said.

He said a joint hearing of Scopa and the portfolio committee on public service and administration and the standing committee on finance committee would be held on the Steinhoff scandal on January 31.

Godi said Scopa would also get to the bottom of Eskom’s applications to deviate from procurement guidelines.