Mtshweni “applying her mind” on Thandi Shongwe’s conduct

There’s a growing call for her to recall the MEC.

Premier Refilwe Mtshweni is said to be “applying her mind” on growing calls for her to fire arts and culture MEC Thandi Shongwe.

She replied to a letter written by the EFF’s Collen Sedibe titled ‘Recalling of the MEC for Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture Hon BT Shongwe’ and said that the matter was receiving her attention.

Sedibe wrote the letter on 15 October 2018 to Mtshweni complaining about a string of fraud and corruption allegations levelled against Shongwe.

In the letter, Sedibe wrote of a “recent proven allegation” of how Shongwe allegedly used over R60 000 in one month on her government cellphone.

Other allegations stem from the time he was the speaker of the Mpumalanga legislature beginning from 2014 to 2018.

During this time, Shongwe is said to have presided over tender irregularities.

ALSO RELATED: Sedibe says the Scopa is useless – and that’s why they went to cops to lay charges against Shongwe

The tender irregularities are captured in an Auditor-General’s reports and involves R30 million.

R19.6 million of this R30 million was awarded to a company called ‘Frugacode CC’ to provide security and data integrity and the Auditor-General found that this company was not really supposed to get the tender because it used a SAP accreditation that was not registered under its name.

The other money – R9.9 million – was given to a company called ‘Junox 210 CC’ despite being disqualified during the bidding process for not having a tax clearance certificate.

The EFF also accuse Shongwe of –

– Misusing taxpayers’ money in the R8.3 million procurement of the flawed Nelson Mandela statue

– Spending taxpayers’ money for hotel rooms, T-shirts and petrol while attending Prophet Bushiri’s church in Gauteng

– Having fraud and corruption charges opened but still continuing to hold office

“The conduct of Mrs BT Shongwe as a public representative is not honourable and compromises the principle and standards of good governance, corrupt-free, open and transparent government that is accountable to the people,” Sedibe said in the letter to Mtshweni.

Mtshweni’s office replied and said that they were looking at the matter.

“The honourable Premier is applying her mind to the matter,” they said in an e-mail reply to Sedibe.

(edited MLM)

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