New national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega quit her post as director of a company, then – a few days later – headed a probe of the same company for fraud and corruption.
It has also emerged that in the profile she provided as chairwoman of the investigative task team in 2010, she did not reveal that she ever had links with the company, Lefatshe Technologies.
The Star has established that a few days before investigations began, Phiyega was still listed on the Companies Intellectual Property Commission as a director of Lefatshe.
The investigation was set up by former transport minister S’bu Ndebele to investigate mismanagement and irregularities within the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).
At the time, Phiyega was a director of Lefatshe Technologies, which got a contract to develop an accident reporting system (ARS) worth R65 million.
Then, in 2010, the acting CEO of RTMC, Collins Letsaolo, terminated the contract after the task team headed by Phiyega found that “the process leading to the awarding of the contract for the development of the ARS was irregular, contrary to treasury guidelines and Public Finance Management Act”.
“No bid or quotation process was followed and the documentation identifying the actual deliverables involved is vague and open to misinterpretation and abuse,” the report said.
According to the report,
two of the biggest abuses exposed were an accident-reporting system unlawfully purchased for R65m by Lefatshe Technologies and an illegal 10-year rental agreement with Mohlaleng Holding Investments worth R658m.
The task team recommended disciplinary steps be taken against former CEO Ranthoko Ragoale and senior management for bypassing procurement procedures and authorising fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
It recommended legal action be taken against Lefatshe Technologies for overcharges of R15 225 238 relating to the contract. It also recommended that the company be blacklisted.
The team made the same recommendations against Mohlaleng. Subsequent to that, Rakgoale was given a settlement of three months’ salary worth R334 879.50 (excluding pension and leave gratuity costs).
Several other senior management staff have been dismissed, but no legal action has been taken against the two companies.
Lefatshe spokesman Mbuso Thabethe said on Sunday he was not in a position to comment as they had not seen the report.
Director of Corruption Watch David Lewis said Phiyega’s investigation of a company she had been part of amounted to a conflict of interest. She should not have taken the assignment.
Contacted for comment on Sunday, Phiyega denied a conflict of interest, but confirmed she had been a non-executive member. However, she had resigned before her appointment as chair of the task team. “I was a non-executive member. I never had any shareholding,” she said.
Phiyega, who was appointed as the first woman police commissioner last month, came under fire after it emerged she had links with a company supplying SAPS with IT equipment. She was a director and shareholder in Kapela Capital, which owns a 40 percent stake in XON, which has IT contracts with the SAPS.
The Star