companies to get paid by the Department of Economic Affairs, and it
was unclear what some of these payments were for,’ the former
member of the Magashule camp told me. ‘In some of the cases there
were huge amounts involved.’
The auditor-general’s (AG’s) subsequent report on the department’s
affairs, released at the end of 1996 , pegged the unauthorised
expenditure at almost R 8 million and further validated suspicions
about Magashule’s handling of public funds. ‘The contents of this
report clearly document substantial disregard for due process and
proper procedure by individuals in positions of public trust. It is clear
that the interests of the taxpayer and that of good governance have not
been served in this instance,’ acting AG J.A.J. Loots said in his
report.^18
In June the following year, the province’s public accounts committee
concluded an investigation that shed further light on the financial
improprieties involving Magashule. The FDC loans granted on
Magashule’s insistence were paid without obtaining securities from the
various recipients, and no repayments had been made, the committee
found. It also identified ‘irregularities’ in the awarding of a contract for
cleaning products and recommended that legal action be taken against
the supplier in question.^19 This appears to be the same contract
referred to by Kganare.
Lekota, meanwhile, kept upping the ante in his ongoing assault on the
northerners. He was accused of leading a witch-hunt driven by political
motivations. There is probably some merit to this view, but it is not like
the northerners made it difficult for their enemies to find dirt on them.
Lodge has documented how Lekota appeared on radio shows to
inform the public about Magashule’s alleged corruption. He also aired
nora
(Nora)
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