Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi has removed two public servants who were moonlighting on the board of the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA), ordering they pay back R1.6 million in board fees between them.
The two senior public servants are Daphne Kula-Rantho and Boitumelo Mabusela, who served as the board chairperson and ordinary member respectively.
Malatsi said to date, the two individuals had collected R1,651,960.89 in board fees which they were not legally entitled to.
Kula-Rantho received R1,288,966.87 in board fees between March 2021 to July 2024, while Mabusela received R362,994.02 in board fees between October last year and July 2024.
The minister said that his decision was made in order to restore stability and good governance at the entity.
“I have removed the individuals, who are currently employed as civil servants, for failing to obtain approval and to provide evidence of permission from their employers to conduct additional remunerative work outside their official roles, as is required by law,” said Malatsi.
He added that the decision to remove the board members was in line with Clause 13 of the Governance Agreement, in relation to Section 83 of the Public Finance Management Act.
“Over the past few weeks, I have repeatedly engaged with both individuals and given them opportunities to submit evidence which would indicate that they have upheld the prescripts of the law. However, they have failed to do so.
“I went further and engaged their employers to request proof of any approvals to earn additional remuneration, outside of their official roles.
“The responses indicate that no such approval was given. Before that, my predecessor, Mondli Gungubele, proactively pursued the same request but was not provided such,” said Malatsi.
The minister added that the Auditor General has also flagged that all board fees earned by the two individuals will be categorised as irregular expenditure and has indicated that the Department of Communications and Digital Technology (DCDT) should recover these funds.
The minister made it very clear that the department would not tolerate the abuse of public funds for the benefit of individuals who fail to uphold the laws of South Africa.
“I have instructed the Director-General of the DCDT to immediately initiate processes to recover the money.
“At the same time, I have instructed the DCDT to work with the acting CEO of USAASA, Luyanda Ndlovu, to conduct an independent investigation into the veracity of allegations of abuse of state resources against another board member, Simphiwe Thobela,” he added.
Malatsi said he wants to restore stability and strengthen good governance at USAASA, which promotes universal access and universal service to every woman, man and child in South Africa.
“We will immediately initiate processes to replace the two board members,” Malatsi said.
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