No amount of smoke and mirrors will deter efforts to realise clean governance
The Office of the Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Thabang Makwetla, welcomes the initiative of officials in the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) who availed documentation to the Sunday Independent newspaper, whose content form the basis of the article that appeared in Sunday’s front page edition (27/03/2016), titled “The high life goes on despite curbs”. The article alleges financial impropriety on the part of the Deputy Minister.
Indeed the administrative challenges and shortcomings in the DCS must be overcome, and overcome soon. It is out of the same spirit and concern that over the same period the Deputy Minister noticed an over payment of over R240,000 on his backdated salary increase , which had been laying in his account for more than two months.
It is unfortunate that the concerned whistle-blower did not notice this much bigger and outrageous irregular payment which the Deputy Minister took up with the department to ensure that it was reversed. Pertaining to the refunds of the deputy-minister it is however strange that the whistle-blower seem not to be aware that the alleged failure is not the Deputy Minister's fault.
As a matter of public record, the Deputy Minister has never, as a matter of principle and in the interest of clean government, used a government credit card. Over the past 15years during which Deputy Minister Makwetla served in different executive functions he has always insisted on using his private finances and submitting claims post transactions, in order to allow departments to refund him after verification and processing the submitted claims in accordance with stated policies and treasury prescripts. The Deputy Minister expects the same from DCS, without fail.
Without fear of contradiction the office of the Deputy Minister wishes to state the following on record:
- The deputy-minister has never submitted liquor bills to be refunded by the Department of Correctional Services. The department has never made the Deputy-minister aware of such payments where they may have occurred.
- The deputy-minister has never claimed for expenditure incurred during the course of duty, nor used a government credit card when he was an MEC in Mpumalanga.
- The deputy-minister has never submitted any claims nor used a government credit card when he was in the premier's office in Mpumalanga.
- The deputy-minister declined to use a department credit card and opted to use his own money and submit receipts for refunds when he was at the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans.
- Deputy Minister Makwetla does not have a credit card of the Department of Correctional Services.
As a matter of principle he submits bills for refreshments to the department to be processed and reimbursed in accordance with the applicable policy rules and guidelines.
Furthermore, The Deputy Minister wishes to call on all conscientious managers and employees of the Department of Correctional Services to be steadfast and not to relent. We need more genuine whistle-blowers assisted by ethical journalists to achieve a clean, transparent and responsible popular government. The record of the DCS of being a department which has never attained a clean audit since the PMFA came into operation from the 1st of April 2000 must be obliterated.
The shenanigans of rogue and intransigent managers in the DCS must be uprooted. No amount of smokes and mirrors should be allowed to shield the irregularities and abuses of public resources placed at the disposal of the DCS every financial year. To this end the Deputy Minister will not be deterred.
Enquiries:
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