PAC CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF CTA BOSS WASHINGTON

MBABANE – The General Transport Manager (GTM) at CTA, Washington Khumalo, should be reported to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for alleged collusion with a supplier, professional misconduct and dishonesty and another officer should replace him.

This is in relation to his conduct in the hiring of vehicles from Woodford Car Hire, where Khumalo allegedly paid the company over E531 000 despite that there was no contract for the supply of the vehicles. 

This is one of the many recommendations made against Khumalo by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its report, which was tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday. 

The PAC further stated that Khumalo was not competent for the job and urged the controlling officer in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Principal Secretary (PS) Khangeziwe Mabuza, to find another officer.

The car hire company, according to the report, had been engaged by Africa Drum Events to supply vehicles for an event which was organised by the Ministry of Finance. 

Africa Drum Events is the company which is under the directorship of Marina Henwood, who, during the PAC sittings, it transpired that she had been awarded tenders worth about E50 million in a space of three years. 

The report is yet to be debated and adopted by the House of Assembly. 

The PAC further stated that seeing that payment was being delayed, Henwood approached the Central Transport Administration (CTA) and she was allegedly paid by Khumalo. 

The PAC said the principal secretary must also further refer the payment to the Anti-Corruption Commission.          

On the same issue, the PS in the Ministry of Finance, Sizakele Dlamini, was also urged to recover the overpayment of the E531 000 for vehicles paid to Woodford Car Hire within 30 days after the adoption of the report by the Members of Parliament (MPs). 

Payment

It was further alleged that the supplier received payment from both the CTA and the events management company (Africa Drum Events) that had engaged it for the same job.

Still on Africa Drum Events, the PAC has recommended that the auditor general should conduct an audit into all the tenders awarded to it (Africa Drum Events) after numerous anomalies were discovered in the way the company was awarded over E50 million worth of single source tenders and several questionable payments were made to it over the past two years.

Meanwhile, the PAC reported that, the CTA GTM, Khumalo, had requested  for some time to compile a response and submit it to the committee, which is chaired by Matsanjeni North MP Phila Buthelezi. 

It was reported that this had been done on October 2, 2020, but it had not been concluded by the time the PAC report was compiled. As a result, the PAC recommended that PS Mabuza be fined E400 for the anomaly. 

“The failure by the CTA general transport manager to compile the report shows incompetence on his part and the controlling officer is urged to recommend someone competent to be appointed to the post,” read the report. 

On the CTA issues, the PAC informed PS Mabuza that a number of ministries reported that their vehicles were taken by the CTA years ago, but had still not been returned and there was no explanation forthcoming from the CTA. “It is, therefore, recommended that the controlling officer should facilitate the return of these vehicles to their relevant ministries within 30 days after adoption of this report by the House,” reads the report. 

Mend

It was further reported that Mabuza needed to mend fences between her team at the headquarters and CTA personnel. The committee further recommended that the controlling officer should conduct an auction of all ‘boarded’ vehicles in this financial year.

It was further recommended by the PAC that the PS should look into the possibility of forging a relationship with oil companies in order to assist with rehabilitation of government fuel depots, which were an eye sore and an embarrassment.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: