AG wants Thuli’s BMW repair bill probed, says she didn’t deliberately mislead

Auditor-General (AG) Kimi Makwetu has reportedly asked that the high costs of repairs to former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s state BMW be probed, as well as how the costs were determined.

An amount of about R470 000 was docked from her pension payout following her seeing out her seven-year non-renewable term of office last year.

Madonsela, however, took issue with needing to pay more than R420 000 for repairs to the car, which was crashed in February 2012.

According to a Daily Maverick article at the time, her then 23-year-old son Wantu Madonsela used her official BMW X6 during the early hours of the morning while the public protector was sleeping and without her permission. Thuli Madonsela wasn’t in the car, and because of this, it constituted a violation in terms of the judge’s handbook. According to the handbook, Wantu was only entitled to drive the vehicle with his mother’s permission, and if she was a passenger in the car.

Wantu told Eyewitness News he had crashed into a wall after swerving to miss an animal that ran across the road. “I took my mother’s car and her private petrol card,” Wantu told EWN. “I bumped into one of my friends who needed a lift home. On my way back, I avoided a dog on the road, and swerved into a wall.”

Madonsela had immediately agreed to take responsibility:

“I will submit myself to internal processes regarding the use of state vehicles in line with my terms and conditions of my employment,” Madonsela said. “I have already made contact with the owners of the affected property and agreed to compensate them for the damage.”

She later, however, revealed the auditor-general’s office had found that she would not have to pay for the damages from her own account. Because of this, she lashed out at her successor, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, for ordering that R470 000 be withheld to pay for the damages and for using the car for slightly longer than should have been allowed. Madonsela defended the latter too, saying the SA Police Service had arranged for her to use the vehicle after she left office.

Now, Makwetu, who was not the AG at the time of the accident, has clarified that his office never found she was not liable to pay, but there may have been a lack of clarity around the details concerning this.

He confirmed that Madonsela had been incorrect in asserting that the AG’s office had told her she was not liable to pay, but added he did not believe she had deliberately misled anyone about thinking she was not meant to pay. He said his office had dealt with an audit query on the car, but had not ruled on who would ultimately be held financially responsible.

He voiced his concern at the amount charged and why it was so high. eNCA reported on Wednesday morning that the AG said an investigation of the costs of repair was warranted.

He said that such a high amount was not raised before. It started out being just R53 000.

Makwetu confirmed Madonsela did raise the then R53 000 costs attached to the crash as part of an audit query and his office processed that query.

“It is correct that the matter was cleared pertaining to that R53 000, because we as auditors walked away satisfied that they had responded and committed to implementing our recommendation as an institution.

“As to the issue of lying, I think there’s a confusion here that is about what an audit effort is versus an investigation; when the public protector says she cleared the matter with the auditor-general, in my view it is in respect of the R53 000 that we highlighted,” Makwetu was further quoted, adding that he did not regard her comments as deliberately lying.

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