Phillip Gumede, the suspended finance chief in the office of North West Premier, has been charged with gross misconduct. This comes barely two months after he was suspended by Premier Maureen Modiselle and comes hard on the heels of the sacking of the CFO for Public Works, Roads and Transport, Kwekwu Odame-Takyi who was found guilty of gross misconduct.
Gumede’s suspension with full benefits in September was to enable an independent firm of auditors, Gobala Dinawa, space to wind-up the investigation, into alleged breaches of government procurement protocols in Modiselle’s office. It also followed on preliminary findings in the report by auditors that fingered him (Gumede) as an alleged prime culprit among several other alleged suspects.
Charges arose from Gumede’s alleged involvement in authorising irregular and wasteful expenditure in the Office of the Premier dating back to May 2009. Amounts are estimated to run into hundreds of thousands of rands or possibly millions of rands.
Gumede, a CFO for more than a decade in the Office of the Premier, is to answer to eight misconduct charges on Friday (this week) when an independent disciplinary enquiry, chaired by Obakeng Kgomo, meets in Mafikeng.
At the time of his suspension, Modiselle said there was a flagrant disregard for procurement prescripts, protocols and Treasury Regulations by some senior managers and subordinates which she described as “scandalous” and likened practice to:
'An extremely toxic mix for service delivery in the province.'
Modiselle’s office is among six other provincial departments to receive qualified audit reports from Auditor General, Terrence Nombembe, for the period 2009 to 2010.
The worst performers according to the Nombembe, was the Department of Education and that of Public Works, Roads and Transport who received disclaimers.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Premier appears before the portfolio committee in the provincial legislature tomorrow (Tues) at 2pm provincial.
Enquiries:
Matshube Mfoloe
Cell: 082 305 4594
