Matlosana CFO caught up in another irregular R3m payment
IN WHAT appears to be a deliberate act of disregard for the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA), Matlosana Municipality CFO Mercy Phetla paid Variegated (Pty) Ltd almost R3 million for electrical equipment without the knowledge or approval of the municipal manager, as per the requirement of section 79 of the MFMA.
Section 79 provides for the accounting officer to develop a system of delegations which the Supply Chain Management Regulation. Regulations 4 and 5 provide content to the act.
Regulation 12 provides for the procurement threshold delegations of which sub-regulation 2 of Regulation 12 provides a limitation to all the procurement thresholds mentioned in sub-regulation, meaning all procurement between R30000 and R200000 must be signed for and approved by the senior managers, including the CFO, and all procurement above R200000 must be approved by the accounting officer, who is the municipal manager.
On January 5, 2024, Phetla signed and approved the electrical equipment
PUBLIC servants doing business with national and provincial government departments and other organs of state will be subjected to criminal prosecution.
This is among three directives issued by Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet, which came into effect on April 1.
The department’s director-general, Yoliswa Makhasi, said two of the directives were first issued in 2016 and 2017 but had now been changed.
The directive on conducting business with an organ of the state prohibits an employee from registering on purchase requisition that contained the names and signatures of requisition official T Lebelo, director/delegated official MJ Tsimone, and supply chain official Nyakallo.
On January 9, the municipality made a purchase order to Variegated for electrical equipment worth R2.9m through the municipality’s buying officer.
The following day, the municipality’s acting store buyer and controller Mamatebisi Josephine Tsimane claimed in a document to have received the goods from Variegated (Pty) Ltd.
On the same day, January 10, Varie-gated submitted an invoice for payment to the municipality which was approved by Phetla and paid on the same day at 3.45pm.
The approval and payment was in breach of the Treasury’s regulations as the purchase above R200000 was done by CFO Phetla, including the acting store buyer and acting supply chain manager (SCM), without the approval of the accounting officer, Lesego Seametsa (municipal manager).
A source with intimate knowledge of the transaction told the publication that Variegated never delivered the the National Treasury’s central supplier database as an individual, owner of a company or director of a public or private company.
It also requires the head of department to open a case for employees who are conducting business with an organ of state with the SAPS in compliance with the Public Administration Management Act (Pama). goods to the municipality.
“The goods were not delivered and the service provider cannot provide proof of purchase of goods from where the goods were purchased. It simply was impossible to deliver some of the goods immediately or within five days, as the goods were assembled outside South Africa,” said the source.
Another source said: “According to new SCM regulations, the threshold
According to the department, there is also a list of activities that do not constitute conducting business with an organ of state, which has been reviewed and streamlined for better understanding by employees and authorities.
Activities which do not constitute doing business with the state include participation in marking, training, has increased. Regulation 16 of the same says the municipality may not increase but can reduce the amount. The SCM manager and CFO should have written an item to the council through the municipal manager to increase the threshold of the delegation of power from R200000 for the departmental head to R350000.
“They failed to do so, meaning the old delegation threshold is a criminal matter. Variegated (Pty) Ltd will be required to provide proof of where the items were brought to prove that this was not a ghost delivery.
“What makes matters worse is that the official who started the transaction should have been aware and stopped the transaction in terms of section 32 of the MFMA, including the head of the department, but they continued with an irregular transaction,” said the second source.
Contacted for comment, Phetla did not respond to questions from the
The municipality’s head of communications, Ntswaki Makgetha, said she would follow up so that those implicated responded to the publication but no response was received. teaching or lecturing at public educational institutions, and official activities undertaken on a parttime basis, either temporarily or permanently, to a number of departments in terms of an employee’s employment.
Also not considered conducting business with the state are: working at the Electoral Commission of South
Acting Store Buyer and Controller MJ Tsimane, who claimed to have received the goods, did not respond to our questions about the purchase. Questions were also sent to the municipal manager but no response was received by the time of the publication.
On February 28 and again on April 5, the publication attempted to get a comment from Tiisetso Sebetlele, the owner of Variegated, but Sebetlela did not respond.
This is not the only suspicious tender transaction for which Phetla is being probed. She and two employees of GMHM Construction, Matshepiso Mothelesane, 39, and Nomthandazo Mokasule, 49, are facing corruption charges after it emerged that Phetla received a bribe in the form of a car worth R1.4m in exchange for a service delivery tender for GMHM Construction and Projects, a company conducting business with the municipality.
The trio are out on R35000 bail each. Phetla’s co-accused are Masego Mokasule, 23, the son of Phetla’s co-accused number three Nomthandazo Mokasule, who is alleged to have paid millions to Phetla in exchange for tenders at the Matlosana Municipality.
Africa as voting staff during elections, volunteering services to the board of their professional associations through nomination or election by their peers, which must be confirmed by a letter from the association.
The same applies to being appointed to an organ of the state in an official capacity as a director of an entity listed in the Public Finance Management Act, where an employee is reimbursed for reasonable expenses.
Contraventions of the act could land a public servant in jail for a period not exceeding five years or both such fine and imprisonment and constitutes serious misconduct, which may result in the termination of employment.