The authors of the Khemano report, which found no wrongdoing on the part of communications minister Dina Pule in the ICT Indaba scandal, have responded to the Democratic Alliance, which yesterday dismissed the findings as "irrelevant".
Marian Shinn, the DA's shadow communications minister, rubbished the report, describing it as "a further attempt by minister Pule to create a smokescreen around the outsourcing of the ICT Indaba organisation and funding to her romantic partner".
Responding to questions from ITWeb, Shinn cast doubt on the independence and credibility of the probe and its findings, on the basis that it was commissioned and paid for by the alleged romantic interest.
The Khemano report, compiled by risk management consultant firm Pedlar, Compion, Henderson and Associates, was commissioned by Phosane Mngqibisa, the man alleged to have romantic links to Pule and whose company, Khemano, was engaged as a subcontractor by the organisers of the ICT Indaba, held in June.
As the report has not been made public, neither Shinn, nor Pule, have seen the document. When speaking to ITWeb earlier this week, Pule said she was neither aware of the investigation, nor its findings, as it had been commissioned independently and did not involve her, or her department.
The fact that the Khemano probe was commissioned and paid for by Mngqibisa does not detract from its independence, says Henderson.
"A client, any client commissioning a report of this nature cannot expect that practitioners in this field will either manufacture, misrepresent, manipulate or construct evidence and or information to either protect or vindicate them. That would be highly unethical and/or illegal in most instances."
He explains that the "Khemano Report" review methodology was based on the perusal of all allegations, reports, findings and related documents, or information pertaining to the ICT Indaba upon which the allegations were based. This included hard copy provided by the client as requested, evidence presented in the public domain, the auditor-general's report and hard copy obtained from ICT Indaba organiser Carol Bouwer Productions.
In August, an auditor-general's (AG's) investigation into the matter cleared Pule of any wrongdoing pertaining to the sponsors' funds. However, the DA contended the AG's investigation was too narrow in its scope, as it did not cover the alleged romantic link between Pule and Mngqibisa, which could potentially have created a conflict of interest in terms of Pule's conduct in the outsourcing of the event's organisation.
Shinn called on public protector advocate Thuli Madonsela to conduct a supplementary investigation to that of the AG, which would encompass the relationship between the minister and her alleged lover. This investigation is still under way.
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