Public protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane said on Wednesday that she was still waiting for Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane to implement her remedial action against provincial director-general Marion Mbina-Mthembu in relation to the Nelson Mandela funeral scandal.
“We are going to follow up the implementation of the public protector remedial action with the current premier. There has been progress with municipalities, they have been implementing our remedial actions,” said Mkhwebane.
She was speaking to African News Agency (ANA) at the Eastern Cape Legislature in Bhisho during an annual stakeholder roadshow hosted by her office, which will see her travel to various provinces throughout the year.
In a report issued by Mkhwebane’s office in 2017, it was found that Mbina-Mthembu had acted unlawfully when she authorised that R300 million from provincial coffers be directed to the Eastern Cape Development Cooperation for events related to the former president’s funeral.
Mkhwebane’s report found that the provincial procurement processes were fraught with maladministration, financial irregularities and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Mbina-Mthembu was the head of the Eastern Cape treasury at the time, but was later appointed a provincial director-general in the office of then premier Phumulo Masualle.
Mbina-Mthembu took Mkhwebane’s report on review but lost the application with costs.
Mkhwebane told ANA that since the court had ruled on the matter, Mabuyane ought to implement her remedial action.
According to her office, Mkhwebane’s 2019 roadshow will target newly appointed members of the executive arm of government and will focus on her office’s powers to enforce executive ethics.
The office of the public protector is the only institution in the country that has the powers to investigate alleged violations of the Executive Code of Ethics. Only members of the executive and legislative arms of government can complain to the public protector about alleged breaches of the code.
Themed “Governance and Ethics – What is Expected of Members of The Executive”, the roadshow will compromise a series of sessions aimed at enlightening incoming members of the executive in provinces about what is expected of them in regards to section 98 of the Constitution, EMEA and the code of ethics.
Mkhwebane’s office said that from the Eastern Cape, the roadshow would move to Gauteng in August, followed by Northern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal in September. From there, it would go to the Western Cape in October, Free State in November, North West in December and Mpumalanga in 2020.
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Source: IOL
