The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the Minister of Sports, Arts & Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, to request an investigation into missing assets at Freedom Park worth millions.
In a Parliamentary Question (PQ) on Friday, it was revealed that R9 811 762 of assets were unaccounted for at the heritage site. This is in contrast to evidence in the DA’s possession.
The DA has letters that show clearly that Freedom Park Heritage site cannot account for R19 838 303.05 of its furniture.
The CEO, Ms. Hulisani Ramugadi, has in October 2019 been writing letters to staff members with invoices for non- compliance of the Asset Management Policy on the safeguarding of Freedom Park`s fixed assets.
It is not clear how many staff members have received invoices, but some of the employees are apparently no longer/have never been employed at Freedom Park.
The DA is seeking clarity on the following matters:
- Why is there a discrepancy between the letter and the Minister’s reply to the PQ;
- Was about R10 million worth of furniture recovered since Oct last year? If so, please provide details;
- Was anybody found guilty of corruption?
- Why is there currently almost R10 million worth of furniture still unaccounted for;
- What would the second asset verification entail? How will it be different from the first one? and
- The employment status of all the individuals who received invoices.
For far too long we have seen gross negligence of public resources occur without proper interventions to hold wrongdoers to account. The DA will not allow this culture of unaccountability, wasteful expenditure and mismanagement to continue unchallenged.