CFO and DDG among e-Government employees suspended for splurging R2.8 million on Germany trip

21 November 2019

The Chief Financial Officer, Nthlane Bopape and the Deputy Director General for ICT, David Kramer are among the seven employees suspended by the Gauteng Department of e-Government.

These employees have been placed on suspension for their involvement in spending R2,8 million on sending a group of interns employed by the department to Germany as part of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Programme.

This information was revealed in a recent Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) meeting by the MEC for Finance and e-Government, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko.

An investigation was launched after concerns were raised about the validity and value-add of a programme sending a group of 50 interns to Germany to receive training in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

The forensic investigation found that there was material non-compliance with the policy and prescripts relating to the Treasury Regulations, PFMA and Public Service Regulations requirements.

The investigation subsequently found that seven employees were implicated in the irregular expenditure in this programme.

Four of the implicated employees have been issued with written warning letters, while the other three face a formal disciplinary process.

I will be tabling further questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain how the CFO and DDG are implicated in this matter, by when the disciplinary hearings against the three officials will be concluded and if the Director of Legal Services for the department received a written warning.

Issued by Adriana Randall, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Finance and e-Government, 21 November 2019