Ex-manager can still access confidential documents

A FORMER senior manager at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Simphiwe Mayisela, yesterday told the PIC Commission of Inquiry that he still has access to highly confidential PIC documents.

Mayisela, who was employed as senior manager of information security, risk and governance, was dismissed from the PIC in June 2018 following a hearing, after having worked for the asset manager for about two months.

The PIC is a state-owned entity with more than R2 trillion in assets under management as at March 2018, making it Africa’s largest asset manager.

Mayisela revealed to the commission that he was working closely with the police, which were investigating corruption claims made by a whistle blower, James Nogu, against the then chief executive Dr Dan Matjila.

Mayisela attributed his dismissal to his failure to inform Matjila that he was being investigated by the police – which investigation he said was ongoing – hence his continued access to the highly confidential documents.

He said he was initially given a mandate by Matjila to uncover the identity of Nogu, but upon receipt of the allegations, the police opted not to uncover the whistle blower, but to investigate the more serious allegations made against Matjila.

He said he went along with the police in this regard, because they explained to him the importance of protecting whistle blowers, to encourage them to continue reporting suspected crimes.

Mayisela testified that, during the course of the investigations, he was given super-administrative powers by Vuyokazi Menye, who was the executive head of IT and thus his manager.

“It should be placed on record that… super-admin(istrative) powers are like keys to every lock in the PIC’s email system. During my disciplinary hearing, I referred to this level of access as ‘keys to the kingdom’,” he said.

Mayisela also told the commission that he detected a suspicious email account belonging to Frans Lekubo, using his super administrative privileges that were authorised by Menye via a letter written to Mimecast on November 2, 2017. “This email account did not conform to the PIC’s standard naming convention, hence it was easy to detect,” he said.

Although having claimed in his papers that Menye authorised his super-administrative privileges on November 2, 2017, so that he could retrieve all digital evidence of James Nogu emails, he conceded that was not the reason, when probed by the commission.

“I retrieved all digital evidence of James Nogu emails and copied them to a compact disc (CD). The CD was then collected by (the police) from the PIC premises in Pretoria East,” Mayisela said.

Mayisela told the commission that his continued access to the highly confidential documents, which are sent to him in hard-copy format, were not for personal use but for continued investigations by the police into the PIC.

The inquiry continues today.