{"id":31068,"date":"2013-02-03T23:08:04","date_gmt":"2013-02-03T21:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=31068"},"modified":"2013-02-04T08:40:50","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T06:40:50","slug":"overlooking-pules-shenanigans-immoral-ifp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/31068\/overlooking-pules-shenanigans-immoral-ifp\/","title":{"rendered":"Overlooking Pule\u2019s shenanigans immoral: IFP"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sunday Times reported that Phosane Mngqibisa<\/a>, partner of Communications Minister Dina Pule<\/a>, received R6 million in management fees for the ICT Indaba<\/a> held last year.<\/p>\n

This latest evidence arises from an internal investigation for MTN<\/a> by law firm, Werksmans, and an affidavit by conference organiser, Carol Bouwer<\/a>, to Parliament\u2019s ethics committee.<\/p>\n

The Sunday Times reported that Mngqibisa was not really involved in the organisation of the event, despite being paid the R6 million management fee.<\/p>\n

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said in a statement that it has taken note, with great concern, of the Sunday Times’ latest report of shenanigans involving the now discredited ICT Indaba, and the alleged dubious involvement of Pule.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday’s revelations that Minister Dina Pule’s boyfriend, Phosane Mngqibisa, was paid R6-million in management fees for doing nothing, is just the latest in a string of alleged failures, indiscretions, extravagances, questionable actions and lack of leadership, indulgently glossed over or even exonerated and executed by Minister Pule,\u201d the IFP said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of the new revelations, the IFP believes that \u2026 the Presidency should launch their own urgent investigation into the alleged irregularities surrounding the ICT Indaba.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis seemingly ‘blank cheque’ approach towards the spending of public funds cannot be tolerated. Too many South Africans are suffering in poverty and extreme hardship. It would be immoral to overlook misconduct on the part of ministers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IFP also called on the Public Protector to take note of the latest revelations in the ICT Indaba saga and finalize her investigation into this matter urgently.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Minister Pule is guilty, she needs to be shown the door. Ministers, after all, are supposed to be guardians of the public purse and their various portfolios and thus have an obligation to raise the bar in respect of good conduct and ethical behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marian<\/a>

Marian Shinn<\/p><\/div>\n

The DA<\/a> also reacted to the news, saying that it is becoming increasingly evident that Minister Pule not only put pressure on a number of telecoms companies to sponsor the Indaba, but used undue influence to ensure that her partner was appointed in a management role, which enabled him to withdraw money from the main organiser\u2019s bank account.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of this latest evidence, I will request the Public Protector to expedite the investigation and make her report public as soon as possible,\u201d said Marian Shinn<\/a>, Shadow Minister of Communications for the DA.<\/p>\n

\u201cParliament\u2019s Ethics and Members\u2019 Interest Committee has also been investigating Minister Pule\u2019s conduct and I will be following up with the chairperson of the Committee to determine the progress of the investigation and when it will be made public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is becoming increasingly evident that the Minister may have abused her position of authority over companies in the ICT industry to enrich a close personal friend. If investigations confirm that this was indeed the case, Minister Pule must be made to face the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Department of Communications articles<\/h3>\n

Dina Pule\u2019s boyfriend paid R6 million for 4 days: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

How not to blow R102 million<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Communications minister Dina Pule accused of nepotism<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

DoC speaks about ICT Indaba finances<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Dina Pule investigation must proceed with haste: DA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IFP says that the ‘blank cheque’ approach towards government spending cannot be tolerated; DA requests Public Protector to expedite Pule investigation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[4073,1329,1083,26,5115,28,5114],"class_list":["post-31068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-carol-bouwer","tag-da","tag-dina-pule","tag-headline","tag-ifp","tag-mtn","tag-werksmans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31068"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31074,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31068\/revisions\/31074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}