State-owned wholesale entity Broadband Infraco has negated claims that the agency's chief financial officer has been suspended, but says corrective measures have been put in place in a bid to resolve internal governance issues.
This follows rumours this morning that Ramasela Magoele, CFO of the parastatal since 2010, was to be suspended because of a breach in financial regulation, and that staff members in the company's procurement division were under investigation after having had their laptops confiscated.
Infraco spokesperson Sammy Mafu refuted claims in a statement this afternoon and said the organisation regretted "destructive rumours of such nature".
"In its 2012 Annual Financial Report, Broadband Infraco reported commissioning investigations to assess compliance with procurement and contract management." Mafu says, as part of this process, the National Treasury on Friday requested the laptops of some procurement staff for "standard data acquisition".
He says none of the staff members were suspended, nor are they under investigation. "They are all at work executing normal duty."
Previous dismissals
The rumours of wrongdoing and suspension follow about three months after Infraco axed staff members implicated in violation of procurement processes - a corporate governance exercise driven, in part, by Magoele.
The dismissals, in November, came after Infraco presented its annual report to Parliament, revealing irregular expenditure that Magoele put down to breakdowns in Infraco's internal control environment during 2011.
The entity also put capital projects on hold after a breakdown of internal controls during the previous financial year, which led to a qualified audit opinion and R151 million in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Magoele said at the time that the agency had taken steps to improve internal controls during the year. Measures included irregular expenditure being identified by management and reported, action taken against employees in line with company policy and the Labour Relations Act, policies and procedures were reviewed, and employees were trained to ensure proper implementation, said Magoele.
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