Public Protector meets with Afriforum Youth, COPE and City Press
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela today gave an audience
to Afriforum Youth and the Limpopo division of the Congress of
the People (COPE) leaders, Mr Ernst Roets and Mr Ike Kekana,
respectively, over the concerns regarding her findings in the
investigation into the ten municipalities that awarded tenders
to SGL Engineering Project, a company linked to ANC Youth League
President Julius Malema.
In a separate meeting, the Public Protector also met with City Press’
Editor-in-Chief Ferial Haffajee and journalist Piet Rampedi. In its
coverage of the Public Protector, the City Press, which was the first
newspaper to publish the story about the alleged irregular awarding of
tenders, has been critical of the findings.
The purpose of the two meetings was to give Afriforum Youth and COPE, as
complainants in the case, and the City Press, an opportunity to table their
concerns regarding the findings and map a way forward.
While both the complainants and the City Press expressed their dissatisfaction
on certain parts of the findings and how the investigation was conducted, they
also accepted that the Public Protector’s findings were informed by the lack of
evidence to prove that there was political influence on the municipalities involved
to award the tenders to SGL Engineering Projects.
Clearing some of the misunderstandings, the Public Protector said she had made no
finding on whether some of the tenders were awarded improperly or not because there
were no proper record keeping at some of the municipalities involved. She explained
that she had, however, made a finding that the municipalities had violated the Municipal
Finance Management Act by not keeping the said records and that this constituted
maladministration on its own.
The Public Protector told the two meetings that in the event of new information coming
to light, she would consider re-visiting the matter after assessing the matter with the
assistance of internal quality review panel.
“If there are compelling reasons, we may re-look at the matter as a new investigation,” she said.
For more information, contact:
Oupa Segalwe
Manager: Outreach, Education and Communications
Public Protector South Africa
Tel: (012) 366 7035
Cell: 072 264 3273
E-mail:
oupas@pprotect.org
Website:
www.publicprotector.org
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