On Thursday, April 30, Premier David Makhura informed Mr Lumka of the government’s decision to terminate his services after an independent disciplinary hearing found him guilty of gross financial misconduct and recommended his dismissal.
The Gauteng Provincial Government spokesperson, Thabo Masebe said in a statement, “Mr Lumka was placed on special leave in May 2014, following an Ernst & Young investigation of allegations of financial impropriety.
“His financial misconduct relates to his authorisation of payments to Shimo IT Solutions, when government had no contract with the company and therefore no financial obligations.”
Mr Lumka was charged with the following:
- That he paid R48.8-million to Shimo IT Solutions, when the GDF had no legal obligation to do so. He was also charged with acknowledging liability in favour of Novell Ireland Software Limited and Shimo, when he was not authorised to do so and that the payments, which were not due, were irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
- That he incurred and/or caused the GDF to incur irregular expenditure of R2.1-million when he signed the Shimo Project charter. Shimo was not procured in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effect manner and through an open tender process.
- That he caused the GDF to incur fruitless expenditure when he paid Shimo a cancellation fee of R1-million.
Mr Lumka was found guilty on the first two charges, which amounted to over R50 million, and acquitted on the third charge.
The chairman of the disciplinary tribunal said the only appropriate sanction was dismissal, as he had abused his position of trust.
“The evidence shows that Mr Lumka was derelict in an egregious manner in his conduct pertaining to the charges for which I found him guilty. He ignored not only legal advice, but went against a prior collective decision that there be no further payment to Novell,” the chairman said when pronouncing the sanction.
The chairman rejected his representation that he had merely exercised ‘poor judgment’. Mr Lumka was found to have been unrepentant about his conduct during the course of the hearing.
The province has also requested the State Attorney to advise regarding whether to institute a criminal or a civil case against him to recover the misappropriated money. The province is awaiting the outcome of the opinion from the State Attorney.
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