‘Porn allegations aim to tarnish my name’ – Masoga

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane recommended in a report issued on Monday that the Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Legislature, Lehlogonolo Masoga pay part of a cell phone bill incurred during an official trip to the United States of America (USA) in 2014.
Initially, it was alleged that Masoga had incurred a R125 000 bill while watching pornography but Mkhwebane’s report is silent about the allegation, to which Masoga responded by saying he was delighted that the report has finally dismissed the lies about the pornography narrative. He further said the allegations were political and aimed at tarnishing his name and reputation.
This allegation raised eyebrows while various political opposition parties demand that Masoga pay back the full amount. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the province in a statement issued on Tuesday insisted that Masoga must pay not only a portion of the money but all of it which was misused “to satisfy his uncontrollable libido”.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo on the other hand emphasised that Masoga ran up this enormous bill on subscription services allegedly while roaming pornography sites on his phone. The party plans to engage with the Speaker of the Legislature, Polly Boshielo to implement the Public Protector’s decision with immediate effect and to ensure that the funds are recovered in full before the end of this term. DA Provincial Leader Jacques Smalle reportedly said they will further write to the Ethics Committee to charge the Deputy Speaker for gross unethical behaviour, and will ask that if he is found guilty, the maximum sanction be imposed.
When briefing journalists at the Public Protector House in Hillcrest, Pretoria on Monday, Mkhwebane reportedly highlighted that she had investigated allegations that Masoga incurred an exorbitant mobile telephone bill and her findings confirmed the allegations.
In her statement she said Masoga must, within 60 working days from the date of her report, ensure that the Legislature review Section 6,5 and 6,6 of the Policy, specifically to provide for the total allowance on combined mobile telephone (voice), the mobile tablet and laptop (data) for members of the Legislature per official international trip. She went on to say the acting Secretary of the Legislature must, in consultation with the Speaker of the Legislature, take appropriate action and recover a reasonable portion of the amount incurred by Masoga, within 60 working days from the date of the report.
“Although it was alleged that Masoga incurred a bill of R125 000, the investigation revealed that in fact he incurred R138 701,99 for the entire month of August 2014 which is inclusive of subscription services, roaming data usage, international roaming services, domestic data usage and VAT,” she stated.
The report further outlined that with regard to the finding that the amount he incurred was unreasonable in the circumstances, Masoga responded as follows: “The notices acknowledges that I have not exceeded any set limit and did not necessarily violate the applicable internal policy, however, the investigation drew a conclusion that the phone bill was unreasonably too high based on incorrect analysis and interpretation of the statement of account.”
Masoga reportedly said the investigation had ignored the submission of the accounting officer of the Legislature who stated: “We would also like to register the fact that it is not unusual to have the telephone bill going high, especially when officials are out of the country. This is largely due to roaming services and data usage.”
In the report Masoga was quoted saying: “The comparison between my phone bill and three other colleagues who were part of the trip comes across as the only yardstick and non-existent benchmark used to determine unreasonableness yet ignoring the applicable prescript. I respectfully submit that this is unreasonable and unjustified.”
The report, however, indicated that three other officials who went on the same trip with Masoga incurred telephone bills amounting to R25 214, R17 704 and R12 419 respectively. A detailed itemised billing from the service provider incorporated in the report indicated the following charges on Masoga’s bill: R19 719,41 for roaming in the USA, R99 880,66 for roaming data usage, R150,79 for data services, R1 917,55 for subscription services and R17 033,58 VAT. Mkhwebane said Section 6,5 of the Policy provides that the Legislature shall cover the mobile contract for a member and the monthly limits for the Deputy Speaker is an executive call package and 45 gigabytes of data which amounts to R6 000.
Masoga indicated that paying the telephone bill was not a new thing to officials at the Legislature because they have an arrangement with the employer that anyone who exceeds the limit must pay a portion of the bill. He concluded by saying it was up to the Legislature’ accounting officer and the Speaker to decide how much he must pay.

Story: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za