The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has admitted it handed CCIFSA another R1.5 million for the USIBA awards without a single invoice in hand.
CCIFSA’s report on the first R10 million tranche arrived more than four months late. It claimed R8.85 million in spending with no invoices, vouchers or proof of payment. Another R1.15 million was simply not accounted for.
Five days later, the Department paid the next tranche anyway.
The Department made the admission in written replies to EFF MP Eugene Mthethwa.
“DSAC’s normal practice is to require a beneficiary to submit supplier invoices and proof of payment with its expenditure reports. That practice was not followed in this case. The forensic investigation found that CCIFSA’s expenditure report on the first tranche of R10 000 000,00 was submitted on 9 November 2018, after the due date of 30 June 2018, and reflected expenditure of R8 853 154,00 without supporting invoices, vouchers or proof of payment; that R1 146 846,00 was not accounted for; and that the second tranche of R1 500 000,00 was nevertheless paid on 14 November 2018. The investigators also found that CCIFSA had subcontracted most of the event to Mirror Events (Pty) Ltd without the Department’s written consent, contrary to the MoA. The Department accepts these findings, and the recommended consequence management is being implemented,” the Department said.
That is a change of tune. In August, DSAC official Zwelakhe Mbiba told Parliament that Mirror Events had submitted an invoice and an analysis of how the money was spent. He said officials considered that enough at the time.
The Department also cannot find the signed approval for the USIBA deal.
“The Department holds CCIFSA’s project plan of 20 April 2018 and the MoA of 20 April 2018, signed on behalf of the Department by the then Director-General, Mr V Mkhize. A submission of 17 April 2018 from the project manager to Legal Services records that the Director-General had approved funding of R12 000 000,00. The signed submission approving the MoA could not be located and was not provided to the forensic investigators,” it said.
Nor can it say who was in the room when the awards were pitched.
“The Department has been unable to locate an attendance register or other contemporaneous record confirming the identities of all persons who attended the meeting(s) concerned. The Department therefore cannot provide a verified list of all attendees,” it said.
The replies also reveal a written promise by a senior official to pay CCIFSA back for money it shifted between projects.
“The investigation also found that a former Acting Deputy Director-General undertook in writing, on 12 February 2019, that CCIFSA would be reimbursed for Downtown Music Hub overheads it had paid from USIBA funds – an arrangement the investigators considered could breach section 70 of the PFMA. These matters form part of the Minister’s referral of 1 September 2026 to the SIU, through which the recovery of funds could be expedited,” the Department said.
The official is not named. CCIFSA’s books then mislabelled the USIBA spending. The Department said the forensic investigation found that CCIFSA’s 2018/19 financial statements “misrepresented the USIBA expenditure as administration and management fees.”
Those statements were never audited. The Department said CCIFSA’s statements for 2017, 2018 and 2019 “were independently reviewed, not audited, although the MoA required audited statements.”
Former Director-General Vusimuzi Mkhize, who signed the USIBA agreement, has left the Department. So has former official Charles Mabaso.
“Mr Mabaso and Mr Mkhize are no longer in the Department’s employ, and the Minister cannot compel them to depose to affidavits. The Department will, however, write to them requesting sworn statements on the matters raised and will submit any statements received to the Committee,” the Department said.
CCIFSA was paid R11.5 million in total for the USIBA conference and awards, held in 2018.
The Gobodo forensic report found that R8.5 million of the first tranche went to Mirror Events. At the August committee sitting, DSAC’s internal audit director Sunita Ramanand said the director of Mirror Events had since died, making recovery harder.
Former CCIFSA chairperson Tony Kgoroge has previously denied wrongdoing over USIBA.