Handing report to police is not enough, Minister must appear before Parliament and suspend Mkhize
2 March 2015
I have written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Labour, Lumka Yengeni MP, to request that the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, appear before the Committee to explain why it took more than two years to follow the recommendations in the Special Audit report into financial irregularities at Nedlac.
The Special Audit report found that the then Executive Director of Nedlac, Herbert Mkhize, and Chief Financial Officer, Umesh Dulabh, fraudulently and illegally enriched themselves to the value of almost R2 million using Nedlac funds, which included luxury car rentals, unauthorised trips for the director's wife, and purchasing of personal items. (See expenditure lists here)
Labour ministry spokesperson, Sithembele Tshwete, is quoted in reports today confirming that Minister Oliphant has since handed the Special Audit report over to the police.
While the Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes this decision, more needs to be done with regard to the very serious and damning findings of this report.