Nkandlagate 'too big' for overstretched Madonsela

Sep 1, 2013 | AMOS MANANYETSO | 

THE investigation into the use of public funds on modifications to President Jacob Zuma's homestead in Nkandla is being hamstrung by a lack of resources in the public protector's office.

 

MONEY NO PROBLEM: President Jacob Zuma's sprawling rural homestead, upgraded at taxpayers' cost, is at odds with the surrounding poverty in Nkandla

Thuli Madonsela, who is probing complaints that the government has spent more than R200-million on the Nkandla project, told Sunday World that a lack of resources for her office made it difficult for it to handle "massive investigations" like Nkandla adequately and speedily .
Her spokesman, Oupa Segalwe, cited "the D-Account" as another case that could be thoroughly investigated if a commission of inquiry were established.
The D-Account is a multimillion-rand account controlled by the North West government into which platinum mines in the province deposit royalties intended to be used for the development of communities in mining areas.
It has been alleged that the provincial government has failed to run the account properly and Madonsela is investigating claims that hundreds of millions of rands are missing from the account.
"Matters such as the North West D-Account investigation and Nkandla, for example, which are massive investigations, were given to us without matching resources," said Segalwe.
"The D-Account involves about 800 separate accounts.
"These are the kinds of matters competent to be given to commissions of inquiry. Had they been given to such forums, enabling resources would have been allocated."
The public protector - who recently found Independent Electoral Commission chairwoman Pansy Tlakula guilty of failing to adhere to regulations relating to a R320-million office space procurement - is struggling to cope with her caseload because of staff shortages.
Ideally, each investigator should handle six to nine complex cases a year and one official should handle a maximum of 25 less serious matters a month.
Segalwe said the shortage of investigators was so severe that even if each investigator were to complete a case a day, they could still not resolve all the cases currently assigned to them within a year.
"On average, each investigator in the office handled 265 cases in the last financial year.
"However, each investigator in our Gauteng office handled about 518 cases, while in Eastern Cape each investigator handled 458 cases. In the Free State, each investigator handled about 415 cases," said Segalwe.
He said the organisation had 308 full-time employees and 100 trainee investigators who started this year. Of the 308 staff members, 156 are investigators and 140 are support and administration staff.
Their budget for the current financial year is only R199-million. An additional R35-million had been requested, but no response had been received, said Segalwe.
"We struggle with a spiralling workload that is not matched by resources. This makes it difficult to meet the expectations of complainants, undermines public trust and puts pressure on investigators to balance promptness with accuracy."
The public protector received more than 5000 complaints between April and June and has almost 14000 carried over from the previous financial year.
Complex investigations usually take between six and 12 months.
mananyetsoa@sundayworld.co.za