This comes as the department’s Chief Director Israel Silinda was found guilty of misconduct and its CFO fired.
The Mpumalanga department of agriculture is investigating more senior officials, the Sunday World has reported over the weekend.
The paper quoted spokeswoman Zanele Shabangu saying investigations are “ongoing” at the department and more heads may be chopped.
The investigations seemingly centre around the defamatory letter which was drafted and disseminated by the department’s CFO Andries Letswalo who got fired as the CFO on 20 January 2022 as well as allegations of corruption.
The Hawks have also been asked by the department’s HOD Cain Chunda to probe Letswalo over allegations of corruption.
The allegations of corruption against Letswalo will cover R1.2 million that was allegedly deposited into the account of an individual under Letswalo’s watch while he was the CFO – money that had been generated from the sale of cattle in Ermelo and which was supposed to be deposited into the government’s bank account.
Insiders said there is more to the Hawks investigation.
“Mr Chunda is on a mission to lean the department of rotten elements so that the department continues the clean audits that were left by comrade Vusi Shongwe when he was the MEC. Also, uMama (Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane) wants to run a clean government, free of rotten elements,” one insider told the 013NEWS reporter.
Letswalo and Silinda are also being dragged to court by Chunda and Mtshweni-Tsipane, suing them R4-million for drafting and spreading the defamatory letter using their allocated government email accounts.
ALSO SEE: Inside the Mpumalanga Agricultural War
The letter which got Letswalo fired spoke of Chunda and Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane being corrupt, an allegation that has proven to be a desperate lie. It claimed that Chunda had plundered over R90-Million in the Greening Badplaas Project, when in fact only R34-Million has been spent so far in the Badplaas farming project.
The department investigated the allegations in Letswalo’s letter and found that they were a “desperate lie” – meant to assassinate the character of Chunda and Mtshweni-Tsipane “for the final ends of serving ANC factional battles”.
“Investigations are ongoing and anyone found liable will be disciplined accordingly,” Shabangu said when she spoke to the national weekly.
She said the chairperson of the disciplinary committee has taken a decision on Silinda who was charged with misconduct emanating from the Agric Looting letter.
“The chairperson is asked to consider a sanction of dismissal,” Shabangu said of Silinda, charging that the trust relationship between the department and Silinda has been broken.
“His continued employment at the department is intolerable,” she said.
(edited by ZK)
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