SABC executives got a battering from parliament's standing committee on public accounts yesterday after admitting that poor vetting of procurement officials had contributed to the broadcaster losing R5.1-billion because of irregular and wasteful expenditure.
The Scopa committee proposed that the Hawks investigate the affairs of the public broadcaster but its acting CEO, James Aguma, said he would prefer that the corporation's own investigators be given the job, with a deadline of May 31.
“If fraud is found this will, of course, be handed over to the police‚” Aguma said.
MP Mnyamezeli Booi laid into Aguma about a section of the SABC‘s annual report that dealt with a skills-enhancement programme for supply-chain-management employees.
“There hasn't been good assessment of the people you are employing. Some of them have criminal records, and some don't have certificates,” he said.
He warned Aguma that Scopa would not be intimidated.
“You have got a record in the SABC that when you are being interrogated you threaten people. When people talk about your institution they disappear.
“We are not going to be threatened and we will get to the bottom of this R5.1-billion — that is corruption and we are going to deal with it,” Booi said.
Responding to Booi's assertion that the SABC employed people with criminal records, Aguma conceded: “One of the weaknesses we picked up is that they have not even been vetted as required by the Public Financial Management Act ... that is one area of concern.”
Booi later accused Aguma of lying to the committee.
“You are misleading us. You are lying to us,” he said.
The SABC group reported a loss of R411-million for the year to the end of March 2016. It lost R131-million in the previous year.
It spent about R3.2-billion on salaries.
Scopa chairman Themba Godi said he wanted to see the SABC in a better position.
He chastised the executives for the late release of the corporation‘s annual report on Tuesday night “at the 11th hour”.
Former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng earned R4.1-million a year, according to the report.
The R5.1-billion in irregular expenditure included R40.9-million on non-contractual payments, R16.2-million on payments in respect of which procurement processes were not followed, R142-million on payments in respect of which there was no tax certificate, and R225-million attributable to inadequate monitoring of contract adherence.
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