Further senior managers and junior staff at the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) are set to be suspended this week, following the finalisation of a forensic investigation that confirmed fraudulent and other irregularities were committed by suspended CEO Mamodupi Mohlala.
PPRA chairman Steven Ngubeni confirmed this on Wednesday, adding that the forensic investigation was completed on 23 August and not only implicated Mahlala but also a number of staff members.
He said none of the managers and staff implicated have been suspended yet.
Ngubeni said the PPRA was required to first inform Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi, which the regulator has now done.
“We have received a response from the minister to say she notes the findings of the forensic report and she encourages the board to act on all the findings contained in the forensic [investigation] and to pursue its own recommendations to the minister. That is to suspend people who are implicated and charge people who are implicated and to [refer] criminal charges against some of the people who are implicated.
“That is the process that we are yet to begin with during the course of this week,” he said.
Ngubeni declined to mention the names of the managers and staff implicated because they have not yet been formally notified of the findings of the forensic investigation and the implications of these findings for them.
PPRA board member Pamela Makhubela said the board has decided to refer criminal allegations, including but not limited to fraudulent activities, to the law enforcement agency.
Makhubela said the allegations against Mohlala in essence cover:
Makhubela said the board has to date laid charges against Mohlala and the disciplinary hearing against her commenced before she indicated that she had referred the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for hearing.
She said the CCMA is scheduled to hear the matter from 26 October 2022.
“The board is also taking legal advice on the [forensic] report and referring the criminal aspects to the law enforcement agencies and recouping the financial losses from the implicated Individuals,” she said.
Ngubeni said Mohlala has declined to provide any answers to the allegations that were levelled against her.
Makhubela added that the final forensic report clearly illustrates the role of Mohlala in the failure to ensure that the pension fund contributions were collected and paid over to the pension fund and that she instructed that the pension funds contributions must not be made, resulting in a loss being incurred by the PPRA.
The PPRA is now faced with fruitless and wasteful expenditure for this “outright dereliction of duty” by Mohlala, she said.
Makhubela said Mohlala signed off the appointment of individuals to positions that were not on the PPRA’s organisational structure and not included in the approved budget and these appointments “are irregular appointments”.
“Staff members were appointed to positions without having the required minimum skills and qualifications. Some of the individuals not fit and proper to be considered for appointment were to the contrary appointed to critical positions within the PPRA, for example the supply chain management (SCM).
“This is quite concerning in the background of corruption,” she said.
Makhubela said the human resources department is the custodian of employee files, but alleged files were removed “at the behest of the suspended CEO and to date cannot be traced in the PPRA premises”.
“Some of these [missing] files involve the HR files of staff members implicated for flouting of procurement processes or for irregular appointments,” she added.
“There is to date a lack of documentary evidence to verify that the recruitment and selection process was followed during the appointments of key positions approved by the suspended CEO.”
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Makhubela said the PPRA incurred a loss due to the misrepresentation of qualifications and paid excessive salaries to undeserving individuals, but will recover this loss from the individuals involved in these misrepresentations.
She said the final forensic investigation report also highlighted “a discomforting arrangement” in regard to supply chain management, which was instructed to report directly to Mohlala instead of the chief financial officer, in contravention of the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act.
Makhubela said this arrangement laid fertile ground for disregarding the supply chain management processes, resulting in them being flouted in a number of key instances.
This included a number of issues related to a visit by a Namibian delegation, including:
Irregularities related to the procurement of 1 000 study guides were that:
The forensic report also investigated the procurement of services from Rural Brand Technologies to assist with the development of the PPRA At-Your–Fingertips app, which was intended to facilitate applications and the issuing of Fidelity Fund Certificates (FFCs) via the PPRA’s system.
It found that:
This article first appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission. Read the original article here.
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