Former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo is seen at a press conference at Luthuli House, 23 May 2018, where he announced that he would be going on early retirement, thus leaving his post as premier of the North West Province. Picture: Michel Bega
State-owned arms company Denel has admitted that a R1 million pilot’s training bursary awarded to the son of the North West former premier Supra Mahumapelo is unlawful.
Mahumapelo’s son, Oarabile, was awarded an R1.1 million bursary to study at a prestigious aviation school in Port Alfred.
The aerospace and defence technology parastatal told parliament’s public enterprises committee on Wednesday that the bursary had been cancelled and that it would reserve its right to recuperate the funds, EWN reports.
It was reported that a probe revealed the aviation school had not been approved for study according to Denel’s bursary policy.
Talib Sadik, a member of the Denel board, was quoted as saying that the bursaries had not been advertised as per policy requirements and the bursary had not been approved by the company’s bursary committee.
“As a result of that, we’ve terminated the bursary policy,” said Sadik.
Denel had previously said the awarding of the bursary to Mahumapelo’s son, Oarabile, had not been in contravention of the company’s policy.
Following the revelations that Mahumapelo’s son had been awarded the bursary by Denel, the Democratic Alliance laid charges of corruption and fraud against the former premier and Denel CEO Zwelakhe Ntshepe, who has since stepped down from the position.
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