Nedlac scrambles to tighten purse strings
Yet council disputes validity of forensic report
THE scandal relating to hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ money spent on flagrant shopping excursions by two senior officials at the National Economic Development and Labour Council has forced it to strengthen its finance policies.
Acting CEO Mahandra Naidoo this week said it had put in place a range of finance and procurement policies that had been lacking.
The council refused to make an official comment on the scandal, but in a letter to DA MP Ian Ollis, Naidoo said the allegedly unauthorised and illegal spending by its former executive director, Herbert Mkhize, and chief financial officer Umesh Dulabh had been reported to the police in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
He said: “The systemic financial, managerial and organisational problems highlighted by the forensic report have been, and continue to be, addressed.”
According to Naidoo, some of the members of the council’s constituencies have, however, questioned the validity of some
QUIET: Minister Mildred Oliphant of the assumptions, allegations and findings in the forensic report, including:
The finding that Mkhize’s overseas trips were not authorised; and
Many of the people implicated in the forensic report have pointed out that they were not involved in the council’s supplychain management, including the administrative or financial processes in booking travel and accommodation.
The letter was attached to a forensic audit report Ollis had obtained by following an application through the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
Naidoo writes there are other aspects of the report that are contested, and that it appears that the investigators were hampered by the lack of documentation at the time, resulting in assumptions being made.
Naidoo cautions Ollis “not to treat the allegations, assumptions and findings of the report as necessarily true or valid”.