Communications minister Dina Pule's alleged conflict of interest around the ICT Indaba debacle won't be covered by the auditor-general's (AG's) investigation into the matter, prompting the official opposition to call for the public protector to step in.
Communication from the AG's office to the Democratic Alliance (DA) says the investigation will look into payment procedures by the Department of Communications (DOC) of R10 million for the event.
However, among other aspects, the role of the minister and her alleged romantic link to one of the subcontractors of the event, who pulled the indaba's sponsorship money, won't be included in the scope of the investigation.
For this reason, DA communications shadow minister Marian Shinn says the AG's investigation into the matter is insufficient. She stresses that Pule's alleged conflict of interest should be probed by public protector Thuli Madonsela.
Shinn, in June, asked Madonsela to investigate the possible conflict of interest, but was told that, due to resource constraints in the department, Madonsela had decided to suspend proceedings on the request to allow for the AG probe to run its course.
Romantic links
The DOC hosted the inaugural indaba at the beginning of June. Media reports in June said millions in sponsorship fees were drawn from the account of the indaba's event organiser by a man alleged to be romantically linked to Pule, after she lobbied telecoms companies to sponsor millions for the event.
Allegedly, millions paid in sponsorships by Telkom, MTN and Vodacom were withdrawn within days by Phosane Mngqibisa, whose company, Khemano, was subcontracted for the indaba.
The DOC said Pule had taken note of the rumours about the application of departmental funds by the organisers of the indaba. “She has already spoken to the auditor-general to request that he looks into the matter. After this engagement, she is convinced that the matter will receive the necessary attention.”
No overlap
“I have, however, received confirmation from the AG's office, through corporate executive Alice Muller, that there is no overlap between the scope of the AG's probe and my request to the public protector,” says Shinn.
She adds that Muller's communication indicated the AG's probe would “focus on the payment of R10 million from the Department of Communications to the ICT Indaba to ensure that due process was followed by the department”.
Muller also said a review of the role of the minister, the spending of funds by the event organiser and the basis on which the money was contributed by other institutions were explicitly excluded from the scope.
“The AG's response clearly indicates that the minister's haste to request the probe was little more than an attempt to deflect attention away from the crux of the ICT Indaba funding issue. This is whether the minister abused her position of authority over companies in the information and communications technology industry to enrich a close personal friend with funds that are not subject to Parliamentary or auditor-general oversight,” says Shinn.
“I now see no reason why the public protector should not proceed with vigour to determine the extent of minister Pule's knowledge and influence over the organisation, financing and profitability of the ICT Indaba, and whether she used this to the advantage of someone with whom she has a close, personal relationship.”
JSE-listed Telkom, which was a gold sponsor at the event, is pondering appointing its own auditors to probe whether the R5.7 million sponsorship fee it paid was misappropriated.
The office of the public protector did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
Disclaimer: ITWeb was one of several media partners for the event.
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