DIRCO CFO once again evades Committee in favour of undisclosed overseas junket

Issued by Mergan Chetty MP – DA Shadow Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
13 Nov 2019 in News

The seeming deliberate actions of Mr. Caiphus Ramashau, the CFO of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), and his continuous undermining of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation is an act of deliberate constitutional negligence.

His non-attendance at today’s Portfolio Committee, for which he was given notice two weeks ago, has resulted in yet another postponement to deal with the issues of maladministration and fruitless and wasteful expenditure as raised by the Auditor-General. Instead, Mr. Ramashau chose to waste thousands in taxpayer money on an overseas junket, to avoid appearing before the Committee. Clearly, Mr. Ramashau’s thirteen-month suspension has not heralded any change in both his attitude and behavior towards his work ethic. He still believes that DIRCO is his own fiefdom.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will, therefore, submit Parliamentary Questions to the DIRCO Minister, Naledi Pandor, to request the full details of Mr. Ramashau’s trip overseas. The DA and the Committee will also be calling upon Minister Pandor, to, in consultation with the DG, to reign in this errant CFO, as his actions do not augur well for South Africa’s image.

This isn’t the first time that the CFO has tried to derail the Committee from interrogating the irregularities in his Department. During an oversight visit to DIRCO’s offices in Tshwane, in August, the CFO deliberately chose to withhold supplying information requested by the Committee, regarding details of the highly controversial ‘New York Pilot Project’ that has already cost the country millions of Rands in penalties.

He further misled the committee by stating that the team of officials, who were expected to present reports to the Committee, had requested to be released due to the rioting that had occurred in the Tshwane CBD. An irresponsible act during the height of the attacks on foreign nationals in the country.

In the current spectrum, whereby other Departments are focusing on initiatives to attract foreign trade and tourists, DIRCO should be at the forefront, placing South Africa’s interest first, and not pandering to corrupt politicians or officials.