Will Maile investigates Pitso?
8 October 2021
The Chief of Staff in the office of the Gauteng MEC for Treasury and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, Mr Collin Pitso, was implicated in an infographic published under the title “Web of Patronage." In it, Pitso is alleged to have received R6.5 million from corruption accused, Edwin Sodi. The graphic originally appeared in the Sunday Times on 4th October 2020 and resurfaced on X yesterday. Mr Sodi had been arrested for alleged corruption, and his trial is still ongoing. Indeed, the implications against Mr Sodi in the Zondo Commission’s reports are clear.
The DA in Gauteng has written to the MEC calling on him to investigate the conduct of his Chief of Staff. We are dealing with a matter of public trust, and R6.5 million buys a lot of influence.
As MEC, Maile has enormous powers when it comes to the employment incidents of his staff, as per the legislation about public service. The Public Service Regulations will have required Mr Pitso to declare his interests in respect of this matter. In the infographic, Mr Sodi does not deny the transaction but avers that the money went to Mr Pitso’s father. Even if Mr Sodi is correct in saying that the money went to Mr Pitso’s father and not to Mr Pitso himself, the regulations clearly require declarations of the interests of close relatives and not just personal interests.
Accordingly, we wrote to the MEC, calling on him to act. Specifically, we asked him to investigate whether Mr Pitso correctly declared his interests in this regard. We await confirmation whether he will do so.