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The public protector (PP) is to conduct another investigation after its North West office bungled a probe into the failure of Madibeng local municipality executive mayor, Douglas Maimane, to account for proceeds of a charity golf day event.
Maimane was probed after hosting the event in December 2021 without council approval.
Proceeds of the event were allegedly unaccounted for.
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A concerned resident lodged a complaint on 3 January, 2022, asking for the matter to be investigated as no council resolution was obtained to hold the event.
However, the mayor’s office yesterday defended Maimane, saying he was not involved in organising the event and the municipality incurred no cost.
The event was reportedly meant to mobilise entrepreneurs to buy and donate sanitary towels and shoes to needy school kids.
Maimane’s chief of staff, Senzo Ncongolo, said the mayor was not involved in organising the event as the function fell under an administration led by then acting chief financial officer Thapelo Molatlhegi.
He named several schools that benefited from the programme. The matter was investigated by the PP’s provincial office, which absolved Maimane of wrongdoing.
However, the public protector’s head office in Pretoria conceded that its provincial office did a shoddy job in investigating the matter.
As a result, the North West investigation team issued a notice to the anonymous complainant, informing him that his “complaint against the municipality was unfounded”.
The office said it could not find any evidence to suggest that public funds were used in hosting the project and there was no evidence to disprove that the event was a charity programme and its proceeds did not accrue to the municipality.
The resident was not satisfied with the outcome and wrote to the public protector’s head office requesting a review.
He said the North West office failed to contact him in the first place during the investigation.
“Even if I had evidence to show them, they did not come to me at all,” he said.
Now, the resident has asked the public protector to investigate the conduct of her officials in North West.
The public protector said the matter had been assessed and the municipality had confirmed the event was a charity programme but no council resolution was obtained.
A review application was granted after it was “found that the process adopted by the investigating team was not fair and adequate to address the allegations raised”.
Ncongolo said the matter was never brought before council because no municipal funds were spent on the programme and no proceeds were expected from it.
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