Agriculture marketing council board in payment scandal

A performance audit report conducted by the office of the auditor-general (AG) has found that board members of the National Agriculture Marketing Council (NAMC) – a statutory body reporting to the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries – were fleecing the entity by paying themselves board meeting fees for meetings for which no minutes, attendance registers and claim forms were submitted.

According to the report which has been seen by The Citizen, the auditors could not verify whether these payments were for meetings that were held and whether the members even attended these meetings.

“During the audit of the board members’ remuneration, it was noted that members were paid remuneration for which no minutes, attendance registers and claim forms were submitted,” reads the report.

Further, the AG’s office said the board members were paid for attendance and preparation and the rate for the preparation was not approved by the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

“NAMC does not have a policy that guides the remuneration for preparation. The preparation remuneration paid for the year ended March 31, 2019 for the council members was R467 881.70 and for the audit risk committee members was R88 267.70,” it said.

The report also noted that an audit risk committee member submitted the same claim form to finance and payroll and, as a result, was paid twice.

When The Citizen contacted the council to request for the signed and approved minutes of the board meetings that allegedly took place, it failed to provide the minutes.

Some of the report’s findings were that management did not implement controls to ensure that payments made to the board members were for claims that were submitted for meetings that had occurred and that the members did attend the meetings.

“Management did not implement controls to avoid the double payment of claims,” the AG said.

In May this year, NAMC fired its chairperson of the council, Professor Phineas Khazamula Chauke, citing a conflict between Chauke and CEO Zama Xalisa.

The letter of termination of services, which The Citizen has seen, from former minister Senzeni Zokwana, dated May 20, 2019, states that a resolution was taken at a special council meeting on April 12, 2019 for Chauke to step down from his position.

“The council also made me aware of the resolution taken at its special council meeting on April 12, 2019 to request you to voluntary step down from your position as chairperson and allow the vice-chairperson to take over, which was rejected by yourself,” said Zokwana.

He said: “This, in my view, was a noble request by the council to avoid the spotlight on the NAMC and to protect both yourself and the NAMC’s reputation.”

According to an anonymous source at NAMC, the former chair was removed because he started asking questions about a bonus paid to the CEO in March.

NAMC failed to reply to The Citizen’s requests for comment.

– gcinan@citizen.co.za

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