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ICASA mum on councillor's fraud charges

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 12 Jan 2016
ICASA has refused to provide a response on the actions it will take pertaining councillor Rubben Mohlaloga's fraud court case.
ICASA has refused to provide a response on the actions it will take pertaining councillor Rubben Mohlaloga's fraud court case.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has remained silent on the fraud charges one of its only two councillors is facing.

Business Day reported that a fraud court case involving councillor Rubben Mohlaloga, along with other officials, will be heard in Pretoria courts within the next three months.

According to the newspaper, Mohlaloga is one of the officials who allegedly stole millions from the Land Bank's AgriBEE Fund during 2007 and 2008.

Mohlaloga is accused of defrauding the Land Bank of R6 million while he was chairman of Parliament's portfolio committee on agriculture and land affairs. He, along with other officials, allegedly concocted a scheme to defraud the AgriBEE Fund through the Dingwako agricultural project.

ICASA's senior manager for communications and international relations, Shari Mattera, told ITWeb the communications body will not comment on the case involving Mohlaloga.

"The authority respectfully declines to provide you with a response pertaining to your query," says Mattera in an e-mail.

Legal battles

Despite the legal action brought against Mohlaloga, he still remains a councillor, according to the ICASA Web site.

The communications authority has been aware of the fraud charges against one of its members since his appointment in 2012.

Mohlaloga's appointment was approved in November 2012, by the National Assembly. At the time, ICASA explained it was unaware of the charge.

According to the Hawks, Mohlaloga was charged with defrauding the Land Bank of R6 million. He was reportedly arrested in October 2012 and then subsequently released on bail of R20 000.

Democratic Alliance (DA) national spokesperson and shadow minister in the Presidency, Phumzile Van Damme, says the party will request the suspension of the councillor.

Van Damme says the opposition party plans to write to the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, requesting Mohlaloga be suspended from ICASA pending the conclusion of the court hearing.

However, Van Damme notes it is Parliament's responsibility to remove councillors.

"There certainly needs to be a more rigorous and thorough verification and selection process in the appointment of individuals onto the ICASA and other boards of state institutions. It cannot be that our state institutions are hurtled from crisis to crisis," she says.

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