Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.
* Mr Eddie Thebe, the suspended Chief Director for Roads, has been fired
* The decision to fire him has officially been communicated to him in writing
* That decision, to dismiss Mr Thebe, was informed by the recommendation in the 21-page report, submitted to us by the independent chairperson of the disciplinary committee, who presided over Mr Thebe’s case from start to finish
* The sanction reads part: In the circumstances, it is my view that his personal circumstances, length of service with a clean disciplinary record, cumulatively taken against the nature of his job and the nature and circumstances in which he committed these offences, do not afford him with sufficient mitigatory facts
* “As a result, I find that in the circumstances of this case, dismissal is an appropriate sanction.”
* The sanction against Mr Thebe is a culmination of a protracted disciplinary enquiry, which commenced in earnest on 22 March 2010 and was concluded on 13 April 2010.
* He was charged with gross misconduct, pleaded not guilty, but was subsequently found guilty on eight of the 10 charges he had to answer to.
* Mr Thebe was found to have grossly violated government procurement protocols, in the procurement of goods and services which off-course included the awarding of multi-million rand road contracts to several road construction companies.
* The long list of charges was informed by the findings of a forensic investigation by PriceWaterHouseCoopers. A copy of charges is included in your media package for reference
* This reputable forensic firm, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, was commissioned in August 2009, to do a forensic audit into the Roads Directorate which was headed by Mr Thebe.
* PriceWaterHouseCoopers were called in after Mr Thebe’s directorate spent the allocated roads budget of R525 million within three month into the financial year which ended in April 2010
* Furthermore, more than R1.5 billion budgeted for the road CAPEX projects was discovered to have been committed, before the new administration took office in May 2009
On the flip side:
* Disciplinary proceedings against our suspended Chief Financial Officer, Mr Kweku Odame-Takyi also commenced on Monday this week
* He is answering to 18 charges of gross misconduct and I am informed he is defending
* We expect the DC to conclude the enquiry against Mr Odame-Takyi before
Friday this week
* However, there is a legal technicality, with regards to case of gross misconduct that was contemplated against Mr Nic van Staden, who was Head of Department at the time he was put on suspension in December 2009
* Mr Van Staden’s employment contract was not renewed when it expired in
April
* Therefore, he is no longer an employee of government
* Proceeding with disciplinary charges against him, is not only irrelevant and inappropriate, but may also be deemed illegal
* For that reason, the department has decided not to proceed with a disciplinary enquiry against a person currently unemployed by the department.
Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your time.
Enquiries:
Matshube Mfoloe
Cell: 082 305 4594
Issued by: North West Provincial Government
9 June 2010
