Johannesburg – The State capture report has revealed that Transnet concluded inefficient contracts with The New Age (TNA) for advertising.
In chapter 2 of the first part of the report, the commission recommends that Former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe should be prosecuted by the NPA for fraud and contravening the PFMA for his role in facilitating irregular contracts between Gupta-owned The New Age and the parastatal.
The same applies for former Eskom CEO Colin Matjila. According to the commission, Molefe’s efforts to justify millions of rands of state funds being irregularly spent on advertisements in TNA were not sound.
“From the above evidence, it is apparent that Mr. Molefe and Mr. Sigonyela were directly facilitating the use of public funds for TNA spending,” the report read.
“As with Eskom, more junior personnel were asked to justify decisions already taken by their superiors by preparing recommendations that made it look as though proper processes were being followed and that the superiors were merely approving a proposal by their subordinates, rather than driving the process themselves. These memoranda again served to give the impression that the expenditure was legitimate,”
the report on Eskom’s contracts with TNA noted.
In addition, the report endorsed a further probe into a possible crime of corruption against Tony Gupta based on former South African Airways (SAA) chief executive, Vuyisile Kona’s evidence.
It revealed that he initially offered him R100 000 and later R500 000 in their meeting at Saxonwold around October 2012.
“Given Mr. Collin Matjila’s role in the conclusion of the contracts referred to above
between Eskom and TNA, particularly his misrepresentation that one or more was a
partnership or were partnerships when they were sponsorships, it is recommended that
the law enforcement agencies conduct such further investigation as may be necessary
with a view to the possible prosecution of Mr. Collin Matjila by the National Prosecuting
Authority for fraud and/or contravention of the PFMA,” the report noted.
In this regard, the probe revealed that contracts concluded between TNA and Transnet, Eskom and SAA were not only sporadic but inefficient, too.
“The TNA investigation shows that state capture thrived at our country’s SOEs despite the fact that the necessary laws to prevent it were in place. The PFMA clearly and definitively made every one of the TNA contracts unlawful. State capture thrived because the people are given power and authority in the SOEs simply flouted its terms.
“One way to prevent this in the future is to ensure that those who ignored their legal obligations are held to account for their conduct,” the Commission noted.
Also read:
Judge Zondo insists that former SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni be charged
Zondo gives whistleblower Athol Williams a glowing tribute
Read part one of the state capture report here
To read more political news and views, click here.
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