Izak Jenner, the ID Western Cape Provincial Chairperson, says the Ad Hoc Committee appointed to investigate the report by Premier Ebrahim Rasool on the alleged unauthorised expenditure by Leonard Ramatlakane, MEC for Safety and Security, ‘should have focused on investigating the expenditure itself.

‘Both the Auditor General and the Premier agreed on a forensic investigation and that illustrated that the Premier did not have a hidden agenda,’ says Mr Jenner.

‘In any audit it is a standard practice to investigate management and expenditure failings and after that corrective measures must be implemented to rectify them.

‘Those who are found to be responsible for irregularities must then also be held accountable for them. The Premier cannot be held accountable if the Auditor General’s report points out certain failures to the department involved and not to Scopa,’ Jenner says.

‘So the alleged unauthorised expenditure must be dealt with either through “condonement”, or repayment. The leaking of the report to the media was irresponsible and brings the independence and credibility of the Committee into serious doubt.

‘As the ID we recommend an independent body from national government be appointed to investigate this matter in a proper manner,’ says Jenner.

‘The Independent Democrats is making a serious call to all Government spheres to adhere to the independence of administrative, judicial and political spheres.’

Released by Izak Jenner