R1 million ghost event: DA meets A-G, calls for full forensic audit

Mark Steele, DA Spokesperson on Public Accounts
6 July 2009

I have today met with the Auditor-General in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Herman van Zyl, and his deputy, and handed over to his office all the relevant documentation relating to the ANC’s apparent misappropriation of R1 million worth of public money from the Msunduzi Municipality for an ANC election rally. I will also forward all the new information to have emerged in the last 24 hours (see below) to his office.
 
The Auditor-General assured me that his office would investigate the matter and has undertaken to urgently send a team to the Msunduzi Municipality.
 
By way of summary, the DA has in its possession a series of documents which suggest that senior officials of the Msunduzi Municipality (Pietermaritzburg) authorised payment of R 1 065 117 for an event called ‘The Nkosi Mlaba Cultural Day’ on 19 January 2009, despite the actual event being scheduled to take place on 18 January. As far as the DA can ascertain, there is no evidence the event ever took place. Instead, the only event actually to take place on 18 January was an ANC election rally at the Qokololo Stadium, attended by some 50 000 supporters.
 
(Our previous statement, as well as the documents in question, can be found here.)
 
Subsequent to the story breaking, a number of different media have conducted their own preliminary investigations into the matter. An overview of the various responses to the story reveals the following new facts:
 

• Nkosi Mlaba - a KwaZulu-Natal chief after whom the ghost event in question was supposedly named and designed to honour - was unaware of any event to be held in his name.
• Prior to the event, and according to one report, Municipal Manager Rob Haswell as well as the Speaker, Alpha Shelembe, and the deputy municipal manager for finance, Roy Bridgmohan, were “approached” by the regional ANC and asked to help raise funds for the ANC rally, which took place on the same day the ghost event supposedly took place.
• Despite his signature appearing on the quotation form, Municipal Manager Rob Haswell denied any knowledge of the event or the payments for it.
• Both Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo and executive committee member councillor Dolo Zondi have denied any knowledge of a council resolution authorising the payment (any payment over R1 million must been approved by council resolution).
• The cricket oval where the ghost event was supposed to take place was indeed used for a cricket match on the day in question.
• The ANC rally which took place at the time the cultural day celebration was supposed to take place was attended by senior ANC officials such as Tokyo Sexwale.

 
All of these new facts raise further questions and suggest that The Nkosi Mlaba Cultural Day was nothing more than a ghost event, designed to allow the ANC, or a faction within the party, to misappropriate public funds for a party political purpose.
 
If this is indeed the case, it constitutes another example of the ANC’s inability to separate party from state, or to distinguish the proper use of public money from the manipulation of revenue for the ANC’s personal benefit.
 
The Democratic Alliance welcomes the undertaking by senior ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal that the ruling party will examine the available evidence and investigate if necessary. We also welcome a similar undertaking by the Msunduzi Mayor to investigate the matter. It is important that both the party and the state fully interrogate what transpired and if anyone is implicated in any wrongdoing, that they be held to account.
 
We believe the municipality’s investigation should take the form of a full forensic audit, conducted by an independent team or agency. The DA will use the findings of that audit to inform a decision as to whether or not a criminal charge should be laid with the police.