Dirco bleeds millions in irregular spend
DEPARTMENT of International Relations staff are at loggerheads with senior management, including Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, over the department’s chief financial officer, whom they accuse of being corrupt.
Staff threatened to go on strike two weeks ago if Caiphus Ramashau does not resign or is not removed.
This is happening as two separate investigations, and another internal one, are under way into contracts worth hundreds of millions overseen by Ramashau.
The Sunday Times this week had sight of two damning findings by the National Treasury’s office of the chief procurement officer and the auditor-general on the department’s supply chain.
The Treasury flagged a contract awarded to a company whose price was R28-million more than the preferred bidder, while the auditor-general found the department had incurred irregular expenditure to the tune of R338-million.
The auditor-general also raised its concern over a R347million contract that was awarded based on criteria that differed from the original specifications.
This paints a picture of weak internal controls and a lack of consequences for employees who contravene supply chain management prescripts.
Ramashau is the accounting officer for all financial matters in the department.
“As chair of bid adjudication and CFO, he [makes recommendations] to the director-general . . . That alone makes him responsible,” said an employee.
Other disgruntled employees, with the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), say Ramashau is the culprit, and have approached the director-general and Nkoana-Mashabane with a litany of complaints.
Chief among them, according to an open letter from a staff member to Ramashau, are: ý Bullying and intimidation; ý Enrolling himself for a R250 000 overseas course without proper processes;
Altering tender documents to benefit service providers Ramashau favours;
Presiding over qualified audit findings; and
Ramashau boasting about an apparent “close relationship with the minister”.
Ramashau refused to comment on the issues this week.
A union leader, who asked not to be named because he does not have a mandate to speak on behalf of Nehawu, confirmed that the matter had been escalated to Nkoana-Mashabane. “We informed her about the issues about two months ago, but to date there has not been much movement.”
Department spokesman Nelson Kgwete said it took the allegations against Ramashau seriously. “The department is approaching this matter in the same way that it addresses the [auditor-general’s] finding, as well as any allegations of misconduct of any form.
“The practice is that such matters do not include the minister interacting with employees as these are deemed administrative matters.
“In any event, if there’s a case of misconduct, the minister as the appeal authority need not be involved in the processes thereof, until they reach the appeal stage.”
Kgwete confirmed both the alert from the Treasury and the auditor-general, saying the department was responding to both issues.
Chief procurement officer Kenneth Brown’s office said on June 14 that its review of the department’s R130-million tender for the packing, storage and insurance of household goods, as well as vehicles of transferred officials to and from missions abroad, had unearthed irregularities.
Kgwete said the department was not investigating the tender at the moment because “one competitor is challenging the award in court. A decision on whether to investigate will be taken following the conclusion of the court case.”
The department commissioned its internal audit unit to investigate the auditor-general’s findings, he added.