Controversial Kudakwashe Mpofu, the chief financial officer (CFO) of the North West government, has resigned effective immediately.
This was confirmed by the province’s department of economic development, environment conservation and tourism in a statement on Monday.
Mpofu’s resignation follows a series of reports about the illegality of his residence permit.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, stated at a media briefing on Sunday that Mpofu, a native of Zimbabwe, was informed as early as June 2023 that his permit was invalid.
Despite this, he continued to work as a CFO for the provincial government.
According to Motsoaledi, the Department of Home Affairs did not issue Mpofu’s permit, which is fraudulent.
Department to cooperate with SIU
“We can confirm that the permanent residence permit reference number appearing on Mr Mpofu’s document does not exist in our system, and we can further confirm that the control number appearing on Mr Mpofu’s purported document was not issued by the department to him, but rather it was legitimately issued to somebody else,” Motsoaledi said.
“As to how Mr Mpofu came across that control number, we do not know. It is not possible in our system for the same control number to be used more than once, as these are face-value documents printed by the Government Printing Works.”
The minister confirmed that Mpofu had been referred to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for further investigation.
The North West MEC for economic development, environment conservation and tourism, Virginia Tlhapi, noted the allegations and vowed to cooperate with the SIU.
“As a department, we have been following this matter since last week, when it
appeared in the Sunday World newspaper.
“I can confirm that the management of the department and the CEO of NWDC [North West Development Corporation] will cooperate fully with the Special Investigation Unit on this matter.”
