Mondli Gungubele admits to presidency's failure to ensure wrongdoers face consequences

“Guilty as charged.”

So said minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele, as he conceded that the presidency failed to ensure implementation of Special Investigating Unit (SIU) recommendations.

“I must accept this gap, I mustn't defend it,” he told parliament's public accounts committee (Scopa).

“I can make this undertaking: soon we will be able to share with you our plan of doing this follow up. It's not worth spending a lot of time trying to explain a gap we cannot defend. I have heard the committee on this matter. Guilty as charged.”

MPs lambasted the presidency for its failure to ensure SIU recommendations are implemented.

In its report on PPE procurement the SIU asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to act against corrupt officials.

Scopa has been asking questions about the lack of consequences for officials implicated in wrongdoing.

Deputy director-general responsible for corporate services in the presidency Matsietsi Mekoa said since 2019 the presidency has processed 81 SIU reports.

The presidency is considering establishing a structure to  monitor the implementation of SIU recommendations.

“The processing of these reports has not been successful in achieving the required level of implementation,” she said.

“We thought we would be frank with the committee that we have not been successful in achieving the required level of implementation. We thought we would give you a sense of three areas that contribute to our level of success not being where we want it to be.”

The problems were due to:

• an administrative system not robust enough to provide a clear filtering process for legacy reports.

• the presidency and SIU are hampered by the lack of or insufficient responses by implementing institutions to which referrals are made, creating a backlog.

• the presidency is yet to develop a formal consultation mechanism to provide timely intervention to assist the SIU to follow up recommendations.

Given the nature of the SIU investigations, by the time a final report is submitted to the president, the SIU would have already made the necessary referrals to either the state institutions to take disciplinary action against the officials or the National Prosecuting Authority for criminal prosecution, or the regulatory bodies for administrative action. This includes blacklisting and for the bodies to take disciplinary action against their members where necessary.

“The presidency has noted that notwithstanding state institutions being asked to provide feedback on the implementation of the SIU recommendations, few state institutions actually do.

“There is generally slow pace by state institutions to implement disciplinary action,” said Mekoa.

Gungubele agreed that only when there is certainty of proper punishment, censure and measures proportionate to misdemeanours will a message be sent to those who are corrupt.

“We are making that commitment. That's why we are looking at ensuring that there must be a formalised mechanism of interaction between ourselves and relevant institutions that are going to work together, now no longer investigating but ensuring that the findings and consequences are attended to,” he said.

Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said it was unacceptable that SIU reports “gathered dust”.

“As far as I see it, it amounts to wasteful expenditure.”

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