By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke has been cleared of wrongdoing on a list of nine allegations made by suspended human resources head, Mlungisi Mabaso.
On Friday 16 September Maluleke, her team and the AG audit team appeared before Parliament’s oversight committee on the AG to discuss allegations made against her by the Mabaso (whose HR position is known as the Chief People Officer, CPO) about her conduct during her tenure as the Deputy Auditor General.
Maluleke said that following a meeting between herself and Mabaso in June 2022, Mabaso had raised concerns about how she had spoken to him during a meeting.
She said she had then offered her apologies to Mabaso “for hurting his feelings”.
Maluleke served as deputy from 2014 to 2020 before she was nominated to become AG in 2020. She took over as AG following the death of Kimi Makwetu in November 2020.
Bowmans report cleared Maluleke of nine allegations made by Mabaso, but raised internal controls on appointments and compensation-related transactions as internal shortcomings.
In the report, Advocate Werner Krull clears Maluleke of any wrongdoing and refutes Mabaso’s claims that she authorised a string of unlawful payments as the incumbent and deputy AG to benefit the late former AG Makwetu.
Krull found that while he had 22 years’ experience in public relations, the appointment of Harold Maloka as head of communications did not meet the legal requirement, after the waiver of the recruitment process.
Mabaso had also accused Maluleke of paying interest on the deferred compensation package to Makwetu’s widow, without the authorisation of SCOAG.
Krull found that while the interest was payable on the package “the calculation of and the dates in respect of which interest was paid was incorrect”. The report recommended that the calculation be revisited and, if necessary, be recouped from his estate.
Deputy AG Vonani Chauke told the committee that while the Bowmans investigation cleared Maluleke of wrongdoing, the document-keeping standards at the institution where it related to appointments needed to be improved.
“In cases where the executives responsible did not do their jobs, we will take action. We take the legal opinion of the report seriously and we will work to tighten control weaknesses with a time-bound strategy,” said Chauke.
Chauke said after interrogating the legal opinion, the audit committee noted weaknesses in two out of the nine allegations against the AG, namely the calculation of interest paid to the deceased estate of the late AG Makwetu and the appointment of the head of communications.
“These isolated matters of procedure will be considered in the broader context of the AGSA’s organisational risk assessment. The executive leadership committed to including the procedural weaknesses in a plan for the committee’s monitoring at its scheduled meetings,” Chauke said.
A statement from the office of the AG said Mabaso is expected to appear before the disciplinary committee before the end of September.