A recently-appointed Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) councillor - who was chosen to fill one of three seats - has been charged with defrauding the Land Bank of R6 million.
Rubben Mohlaloga's appointment was approved in the second last week of November by the National Assembly to take up the position. He is expected to take up his role as one of nine ICASA councillors early next year.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Paul Ramaloko confirms Mohlaloga has been charged with defrauding the Land Bank of R6 million and is out on bail of R20 000. However, ICASA's oversight department was unaware of the charge, despite Mohlaloga holding a senior position within communications.
Mohlaloga was reportedly arrested in October - a month after short-listed candidates were interviewed for the post and a month before he was appointed - and is due to appear again tomorrow. Ramaloko cannot disclose further details of how the alleged incident took place, as this is part of an ongoing investigation.
Non-disclosure
The Department of Communications, whose minister requested the National Assembly appoint Mohlaloga as one of the three councillors, was unaware Mohlaloga had the charge hanging over his head at the time he was short-listed.
In addition, Mohlaloga did not disclose the information to the DOC, despite his holding a senior position within the department for the last two-and-a-half years. Spokesman Siya Qoza says minister Dina Pule is looking at what action should be taken and will be guided by the court process.
ICASA, pointing out that Mohlaloga has not yet taken office, referred questions to the department, which said the Portfolio Committee on Communications would be better placed to answer. Portfolio committee chairman Eric Kholwane says Mohlaloga did not raise the matter during the interview, or alert the committee after his arrest.
Kholwane says the ICASA Act does not preclude people from serving as councillors unless they have been convicted. He adds that the information only came to light after the National Assembly approved the appointment, so the committee could not seek a replacement.
Lengthy process
According to Mohlaloga's LinkedIn profile, he has been the department's GM for policy development since July 2010. He was also previously chairman of the portfolio committee for agriculture and land affairs.
The National Assembly approved three councillors to fill the seats that will be vacated at ICASA: Nomvuyiso Batyi, Katharina Pillay and Mohlaloga, from a list of five candidates sent to Pule.
The appointments followed the Portfolio Committee on Communications having considered 39 submitted CVs from candidates. These were then whittled down to 15 people who were interviewed between 5 and 7 September.
Pule kicked off the selection process in May, when she requested the committee seek candidates for the three positions.
Mohlaloga did not answer his cellphone this morning and did not return a message or two SMSes requesting comment urgently.
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