As Grocott's Mail hits a brick wall in its efforts to ascertain the reason for Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Jackson Ngcelwane's axing, a report to be tabled at a Council meeting today is expected to throw some light on mysterious payments amounting to at least half a million rands to a World Cup legacy project.
As Grocott's Mail hits a brick wall in its efforts to ascertain the reason for Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Jackson Ngcelwane's axing, a report to be tabled at a Council meeting today is expected to throw some light on mysterious payments amounting to at least half a million rands to a World Cup legacy project.
Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart issued Ngcelwane a "precautionary suspension" around two weeks ago, explaining only that this was while certain investigations were under way. Now, reliable sources are suggesting that Ngcelwane's suspension is linked to comments tabled in Council in March, in which he expressed concern about payments to the Umbumbano Development Academy – an out-of-town company that Makana was paying to run soccer-coaching and training clinics in rural areas after the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
According to the Council agenda of 15 March 2011, Ngcelwane cautioned Baart that a request for a R255 000 payment to Ubumbano made in January 2011 and forwarded to the Supply Chain Management Unit deviated from proper procurement processes. It cannot be confirmed at this stage whether the payment was ever made to Ubumbano, or how Baart reacted to the memorandum from the CFO. Reliable sources say, however, that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Umbumbano first made an appearance on Council agendas in March this year – but councillors said it had never been mentioned again – despite the fact that it received substantial payments. The sources say the payments were processed by the Finance Department authorised by the Municipal Manager, as the accounting officer.
According to the source, Ubumbano received three payments of R80 000 each on 23, 28 and 30 July 2010. Another payment, this time R240 000, was recommended in an internal memorandum signed by the mayor’s personal assistant, Noluthando Santi, for its Ubumbano's services on 18-19 September 2010.
Records exist, say the sources, showing that a local caterer and taxis were also hired for the event. On 1 October, around two weeks after the event, a stores department official put through the R240 000 order for coaching clinic services. The payment voucher had been issued and signed the day before by the Finance Department, after authorisation by Baart. It has also been found that the three initial payments of R80 000 were processed without comments by the CFO or the Finance Directorate. Comments were sought by the Municipal Manager from the CFO only for the R240 000 payment in October.
It is standard practice that before any payments are made outside the usual procurement channels, those items are brought to the attention of the CFO for comments. Grocott’s Mail was also informed that because of the amounts involved, the transaction ought to have been processed through the Supply Chain Management processes.
It would appear, according to the sources, that regular procurement processes were not followed in the Ubumbano payments. In March, Grocott’s Mail reported that former executive mayor Vumile Lwana had played a part in securing the services of Ubumbano, which is owned by former Makana municipal official, Lulamile Bikitsha. According to Section 117 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, councillors are prohibited from participating in the management of municipal tenders or contracts.
While it's not clear to what extent procurement processes were deviated from in the actual payments, the sources claimed the transactions were also in contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act. Asked for comment, Baart said the matter was still under discussion and a report would be tabled to Council today.
Meanwhile Grocott’s Mail's inquiries about the status of the Ngcelwane investigation have hit a no-comment brick wall. Baart, however, made a point of saying at the inaugural council meeting that there was one official missing at the meeting and that was the CFO.
It was there that he had been placed on precautionary suspension, she said because he had "acted unlawfully in the execution of his duties". The sources also revealed that another director was also in line to get the chop, but further details were unavailable.
