Daily Dispatch Madiba burial: Time for truth
IT HAS been, and will remain for years to come, one of the most shameful cases of misuse and theft of public funds to tarnish so much of our province.
But as we near the third anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela, the greatest world statesman to have come out of the Eastern Cape and this country, on December 5, the full disgraceful story is still not known.
This is how millions of rands of funds put aside to enable ordinary citizens of the Eastern Cape to witness and mourn the passing of their beloved Madiba were stolen.
The full extent of this appalling crime is still under wraps, but it is known that two years ago the then public protector, Thuli Madonsela, began an investigation that extended out from Buffalo City Metro to include the O R Tambo District Municipality, King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality and Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
It also included funds managed by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) on behalf of the Eastern Cape provincial government.
Some of what is known is nothing short of mind-boggling.
Within three days of approving as a matter of urgent contingency R10-million for memorial services in BCM, it was all spent with little to show for it.
It emerged in subsequent court cases that R5.9-million was paid to a taxi owner to provide non-existent transport for mourners. It it now alleged in a matter still before the court that senior municipal councillors were complicit.
A subsequent auditor-general report showed more “unauthorised” expenditure under the guise of Mandela memorials.
KSD spent about R21-million on the funeral while O R Tambo reportedly spent about R9million. In both cases, the municipal councils had not approved the expenditure and KSD’s municipal public accounts committee (MPAC) called the spending, code named “Project X”, a “project of science-fiction”.
Madonsela soon turned to questioning these expenses, and it was not long before the ECDC was dragged into the morass when the investigation turned to find out about the estimated R35-million allegedly funnelled through the corporation.
One of the more astonishing revelations was that then provincial treasury head told the then ECDC chief executive and chief financial officer to pay more than R11-million within two hours, without proper documentation in place.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, the municipality forked out nearly R2-million on T-shirts and catering for a provincial memorial service despite a national Treasury instruction that nothing should be spent on T-shirts or catering.
In all, an eye-watering R90-million is believed to have been spent “irregularly” on Mandela’s memorial. Of course, not all of this was stolen, but it is clear millions were.
The call made by the management of the ECDC, on the public protector’s office to release the report is a progressive one.
This scandal is a massive stain on these institutions, and it is now urgent that the full, unfettered truth be unveiled for all to see, so that those responsible are made to pay and the institutions can repair the damage.