The various allegations against Nedlac CFO Mfanufikile Daza include breaching procurement policies.
The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) executive director Madoda Vilakazi told Business Day that the CFO has been suspended over “a number of issues”, one of which was allegedly breaching procurement policies.
He said:
“If someone has breached procedures, I would not want to specify what it was about. It’s a number of things and we are still in the process of finalising investigations.”
In the investigation, the auditor-general found several irregularities in Nedlac’s financial statements, including incurring over R4 million in irregular and wasteful expenditure, running up a deficit budget, and awarding contracts to bidders that had not scored the highest points during evaluations. This after it was found that Nedlac had not been compliant with provisions in the Public Finance Management Act.
Vilakazi could also face charges if the investigation finds that he abdicated his responsibility when the institution incurred irregular expenditure amounting to R391 809 in the 2017/2018 financial year.
He said that the investigation into Nedlac contravening supply chain management requirements was yet to be presented to its executive committee.
“If they want to blow the Nedlac one out of proportion, so be it, but the report on that has not been tabled. There are few entities of the state that did not have irregular expenditure and it is incumbent on all of them to investigate it”
Vilakazi said that irregular expenditure doesn’t mean that there has been financial misconduct and that “every year, every organisation always has it”.
He told Business Day that “implicating people prematurely is malicious and slanderous”.
The investigative report will be presented to the executive committee at a meeting tomorrow.
Business Day reports that the meeting could recommend that VIlakazi be suspended and that Mfanufikile Daza’s suspension will also be discussed.
