THE ANC in Tshwane has strongly defended its deputy chairperson Mapiti Matsena against a graft report suggesting he was implicated in fraudulent invoices submitted to the DA-led municipality for work done for the ANC.
The report is based on the forensic investigation that blew the lid off how fraudulent invoices amounting to more than R10million were submitted to the Office of the Speaker after the 2016 municipal elections.
Fundudzi Forensics Services was commissioned to probe allegations that some suppliers had submitted invoices for work not done following queries that some invoices were at odds with supply chain management policies.
Matsena was fingered in the report as having given a go-ahead for the catering of lunch and drinks of 250 people, who attended an ANC branch meeting at Nellmapius Secondary School.
The catering cost R52 470 and investigators recommended that the invoice should not be paid because it was for a party political event.
The invoices in question were submitted for the work done in 2014, 2015 and 2016 when Matsena was still the executive strategic head in the Speaker’s office, the position equivalent to the accounting officer.
Party spokesperson Lesego Makhubela labelled a report suggesting Matsena ordered catering at a party event as a “witch-hunt” aimed at discrediting the ANC as “inherently corrupt”.
The reporting was a “witch-hunt targeted at the ANC to feed into the DA narrative that the ANC is inherently corrupt”, Makhubela said.
He said the witch-hunt was also targeted against black-owned companies, which were frustrated into liquidation, after rendering services to the City.
“We want to place it on record that there is no single leader of the ANC who has been implicated in the report and that the statement released by mayor Solly Msimanga is both unfortunate and baseless,” Makhubela said.
In the wake of the report, Msimanga said: “It is clear that rampant theft and fraud reigned supreme under the watch of the former mayor and Speaker. Tshwane residents have been robbed of monies running into millions of rand which could have been used for the socio-economic development of the City and to create much needed employment opportunities.”
Makhubela said Msimanga’s statement contradicted a letter written by the city manager, Moeketsi Mosola, to Matsena and former council Speaker Morakane Mosupyoe-Letsholo.
The letter in part read: “The reference made in the report to both councillors Matsena and Mosopyoe-Letsholo was in the context of the interviews and explanations given by officials in the office of the Speaker. Fighting fraud and corruption is not something that needs lip service. It demands that our actions nip all criminal elements in the bud.”
According to the forensic report, some service providers had claimed for catering work at the funeral of former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi and memorial services for the late minister Collins Chabane, as well as city ANC Tshwane councillor William Mahlangu.
For catering at Selebi’s funeral at the Pretoria Showgrounds and Waterkloof, a company called Dinyane Business Enterprises claimed a payment of more than R500 000 from the City.
Investigators recommended that the amount should not be paid after they were unable to determine the person who requested the service from Dinyane.
The same company submitted an invoice of R133 836 for the memorial service of Chabane, the late public service and administration minister.
“We could not find any document that indicates that the council took a resolution to host this memorial service,” the report said. It was recommended that the claim should not be paid.
The investigation established that of the about R28.1m in invoice claims, only about R11.3m could be paid to eligible service providers.