Why the AG’s team fled the Bay
Weekend Post’s front page spooks audit officials
An envelope containing a copy of the front page of the Weekend Post was the perceived threat that led to officials from the auditor-general’s office fleeing Nelson Mandela Bay.
The newspaper’s front page, dated October 19, had two stories — one detailing how the National Treasury planned to recall billions of rand spent on the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) and the other on the killing of four people in the Bay in one day, including an SMME owner and his teacher friend.
It is believed the audit team received the envelope soon after it requested documents on a number of matters, including the IPTS and the R21m draincleaning project — both of which have been shrouded in controversy — while auditing the city’s books for the 2018/2019 financial year.
The envelope — marked “The manager Audit General”
— was slipped under the door of an office at the Lillian Diedericks building which the team had occupied, according to three municipal sources.
But the more than 25-strong staff contingent viewed this as a potential threat, resulting in them packing their bags on Monday.
A letter detailing the incident was sent from the auditor-general’s office to mayor
Mongameli Bobani on Tuesday.
Auditor-general spokesperson Africa Boso said the team had been conducting the annual regularity audit of the municipality.
“The decision to remove our auditors stems from them receiving a sealed anonymous envelope that contained newspaper clippings that we believe were meant to threaten our team,” he said. He confirmed that a copy of the Weekend Post front page was in the envelope.
“The article dealt with matters associated with the IPTS and historical audit matters raised during the past years.
“We understood this to be a
threat to our team and decided to withdraw the team for their safety as well as to alert the leadership of the municipality [to] the corrosive conditions that are starting to flow into and interfere with the work of auditors.”
Boso said a meeting had been requested with Bobani and other officials to discuss safety issues.
“The safety of our staff comes first and, as such, where we feel their lives are being threatened, we work closely with authorities at the entities we audit, as well as law enforcement agencies, to ensure they are protected.
“Where a need arises, we do not hesitate to remove our teams from audit environments where their lives could be endangered.”
Bobani’s spokesperson, George Geleba, said the mayor had requested that a meeting be held next week with the auditor-general’s office to discuss the incident.
“This will be to discuss a way forward that will ensure a safe and smooth environment to facilitate audits of the city to be expedited.
“He condemns any attempts of intimidation [of] government officials when they’re executing their duties,” he said.
When contacted, Bobani said he would like the AG to explain how its team perceived a copy of the Weekend Post’s front page as a threat.
“I can’t understand how they arrived at that decision,” he said.
“That envelope carried no threat. It was just a clip from the Weekend Post.”
Bobani said the auditorgeneral had not informed the municipality or his office before its team left.
“It also concerns me that the DA is insinuating that those guys were threatened because they were investigating the drain-cleaning project.
“There is nothing that links this to what the DA is saying.”
Bobani said if it was a threat, it likely came from the DA.
“They have lied to the public about this so-called threat.”
At a media conference on Thursday, DA Eastern Cape leader Nqaba Bhanga said the perceived threat against the audit team was linked to the drain-cleaning project.
Bobani, meanwhile, said municipal officials had been co-operating with the auditorgeneral’s officials.
“All the information has been passed on that was requested,” he said.
“If this was reported to us before their removal we could have assisted with precautionary measures.”
Asked to respond to Bobani’s claims, Bhanga said the mayor was clearly unstable.
“He is mad. He turns all the problems faced by the city onto the people who want to fix it,” he said.
“We are firm and clear that we are not going to run away while the city is being broken down by someone who can’t see right from wrong.”
The perceived threat was also brought up by an official during an audit committee meeting on Wednesday.
“This person asked the committee if the auditor-general’s staff had left and it was confirmed,” an official, who declined to be named, said.
“They left Port Elizabeth because of the envelope and its contents. They are still doing the audit but not from the city.”
It has become increasingly difficult for the auditor-general to perform its work in some municipalities.
Staff members have had to face hostage situations‚ threats from municipal officials and have even been shot at.
These are some of the instances of intimidation that auditor-general Kimi Makwetu has raised in the past year with parliament’s standing committee on the auditor-general.
The audit team traditionally completes the metro and Mandela Bay Development Agency audits by the first week of December and informs the city of its provisional findings the same month.