Johannesburg - The man who presided over the Limpopo textbook crisis had led the Sekhukhune district municipality to six consecutive disclaimers before being promoted as provincial education MEC in 2009.
An analysis of Auditor-General Terence Nombembe and the municipality’s reports showed that the Dickson Masemola-led Sekhukhune got the worst audit opinions - a disclaimer - between the 2004/2005 and 2009/2010 financial years.
A disclaimer is issued against a municipality, government department or entity whose books Nombembe refused to touch because they failed to submit supporting documents.
Masemola’s record raises questions about his leadership and governance skills, his suitability for the education job in the first place and the effectiveness of the ANC’s cadre deployment policy.
A close ally of President Jacob Zuma, Masemola led the impoverished Sekhukhune district between 2001 and 2009 before Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale appointed him to run the provincial education department.
He later fell out with Mathale and Julius Malema, Zuma’s bitter rivals. Masemola has been tipped to take over as premier if Zuma is re-elected at the party’s December national conference in Mangaung.
With rampant poverty and unemployment and one of the highest illiteracy rates in the country, Sekhukhune was declared a presidential nodal area in 2004.
Masemola’s spokesman, Pat Kgomo, admitted that the MEC’s Sekhukhune record was poor but said it was unfair to single him out for public scrutiny.
“Are they comparing everybody in government to check their history? It is not fair for people to pick Masemola and compare a municipality with the department.
“Are they also checking all the politicians, their history and what they did in the past?” asked Kgomo.
According to Nombembe’s general reports on audit outcomes for the six years leading to Masemola’s departure from Sekhukhune, the municipality was one of the worst performers in the country and failed to improve its financial management.
It was the only Limpopo municipality, out of 30, that received no other audit opinion but a disclaimer for six years running.
In his 2008/2009 report, Nombembe said Sekhukhune and 11 other Limpopo municipalities had maintained their disclaimers “as a result of a continued pervasive breakdown in internal control due to a lack of leadership involvement and monitoring”.
A source who attended the recent Limpopo intergovernmental forum, which was chaired by Masemola, said people whispered about the “red flags” (disclaimers) that he got in Sekhukhune and at the education department.
“One person said ‘this man got disclaimers in Sekhukhune. And they followed him to the department. What is wrong with the deputy chairperson?’,” said the source.
The Star analysed Masemola’s governance and leadership record after his tenure as MEC was marred by maladministration, corruption, fraud and financial mismanagement.
Thousands of Limpopo pupils were forced to spend nine months without textbooks after the provincial education department squandered taxpayers’ money.
As a result, it could not afford to buy textbooks and was subsequently placed under administration alongside four other Limpopo departments last December.
A forensic report revealed early this year that the department had paid a company linked to Masemola R2 million a month more than it had tendered for in the six months leading up to its bankruptcy. The department also wasted R25m a year on phone bills under his watch.
Masemola has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He accused unnamed political enemies in the province of using the textbook crisis to “assassinate my character” for political reasons.
ANC Limpopo spokesman Makonde Mathivha defended the party’s cadre deployment policy, saying it could not be judged on the basis of one deployee’s performance. He added that the issuing of a disclaimer by Nombembe was the result of many factors.
The Star