Dirco DG Matjila on special leave; multi-faceted forensic audit required statement Mr Bantu Holomisa (UDM President) (20 September 2013)
We welcome the news that the Director General (DG) of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Mr Jerry Matjila, has been placed on special leave following the United Democratic Movement’s (UDM) exposure of alleged irregular expenditure to the tune of half a billion rand of the African Renaissance and International Co-Operation Fund (ARF).
Apparently the DIRCO DG, who is the accounting officer for the ARF, acted with the blessing of the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, as well that of President Zuma.
The only way to get to the bottom of this mess is for a forensic audit to be instituted; it cannot merely be a departmental investigation which, we hear, has been mooted by the Minister.
The UDM believes that an audit team consisting of National Treasury, the Auditor General, the Hawks, the National Intelligence Agency and Interpol must be constituted to do justice to any investigation of the alleged irregular expenditure.
The Public Service Commission, whose task it is to investigate, monitor, and evaluate the organisation and administration of the Public Service, should also be involved in determining the DG’s fate.
