Govt must pay – Mzuthini

Some of the 900 guests who enjoyed the hospitality of His Majesty’s Correctional Services Club, during the 2013 State Opening of Parliament.

MATSAPHA  – Isaiah Mzuthini Ntshangase, His Majesty’s Correctional Services Commissioner says all he wants is his money from government. This is for services rendered by the officers’ club he chairs, the Correctional Services Staff Canteen Club.

The club won a tender and supplied catering services for 900 people during the 2013 State Opening of Parliament. The club was awarded a tender worth E429 580 by the then Senate President Gelane Zwane in her capacity as chairperson of the Parliamentary Service Board. The commissioner said the food was not for charity and therefore he demands that the club be paid what was due to it.

The Ministry of Finance has declined to release funds to pay for the services rendered during the event. The ministry has withheld payment pending the clarification of certain irregularities which should be investigated and cleared by the Auditor General (AG).

The catering services and food served was supplied by the club which operates at least seven canteens (outlets where groceries and liquor are sold to officers and the public) found in the departments various centres under the Correctional Services Department. In the last five years the club has amassed a massive E5 million from its operations and spent about E800 000 per year on various items.
In an interview on Friday, the commissioner said he was not bothered by the probe which government said it would implement to look into the club and its activities.

He said such an act would be welcome but payment should be released immediately.
 “We served a full course meal of chicken and beef with either rice or porridge and very nice salads. The food was downed with a variety of nicely cold beverages,” he said.
“When we served the food, no one was sweating because we provided air conditioners. I do not understand why they are now withholding payment.”       
The commissioner said the club should not be involved in politicking and unnecessary internal fights within government departments.
Ntshangase is worried that it seems like the club is now seemingly in the middle of a long standing squabble between government departments.
He said he was disturbed that government says it wants to investigate the club and its operations instead of releasing a cheque to the club for services rendered. He said if these investigations would eventually take off, such an act would be out off line.

Ntshangase said government would be straying because the club was a private entity owned by officers of his department and was not in any way a government department and therefore government or the office of the Auditor General had no jurisdiction over its activities.
He said this following reports that officers from the AG’s office questioned seven officers from parliament regarding the tender.
The AG also wrote a memorandum where she stated that the audtitors would conduct documentary reviews and physical inspections to collect evidence on this issue.

Some documents requested by the AGs office include budget allocated for the event, procurement plan, tender documents and quotations from suppliers, invoices and delivery notes among others.
Meanwhile Commissioner Ntsha-ngase said the club was not accountable to government.
“It operates independently under its own facilities of canteens. It does not receive any funding from government instead it had assisted government in many occasions at no cost,” he said.

The commissioner said, during the recent Correctional Services Day, the club provided government with a marquee, chairs and decoration at no cost. The marquee was recently bought by the club at a cost of E1.3 million from South Africa.
He said through this service rendered for the Correctional Services Day, government saved close to E500 000 which would have been money used to hire the facility.

“This was not the first time we provided for government as the club but no one ever questions that,” he said.
He said the club provided food to the members of the public who visited the department as spectators during the event.
“We gave them free food and we did not charge government for that,” he said. Ntshangase said the club was registered as a company and had full accreditation for companies and was eligible to tender for any job, be it  government or other private entities.

He said it had a trading licence which he said he was not ready to show the media for now.
The commissioner said in the event government investigators visit his office, they would be shown the licence. He said the canteen was a structure for officers which were used to take care of their needs.

“Officers started the club with their own funds and it is sustained through these ventures initiated by the administrators of the club such that it is a well-off entity,” he said.
The commissioner said the club had its own auditors who are responsible of taking care of its books of accounts.

Regarding the awarding of the tender Ntshangase said the best person to answer would be Parliament as his was only to provide a service and not award tenders. He said the Senate President would be better placed to respond to that question. 

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