The Department of Public Works turnaround strategy has uncovered R34.9 billion in irregular expenditure dating back to 2001, Public Works Minister Thembelani Nxesi announced on Monday.

Briefing reporters in Pretoria, Minister Nxesi said a total of R1.1 billion of the amount is being investigated for fraud and corruption.

“Our Turn-around interventions are beginning to yield the desired results. Our investigations have uncovered R34.9 billion in irregular expenditure which has accumulated over a long period in some cases going back as far as 2001,” he said.

More than 70% of the department’s business is related to property management and historically this is the area that has been poorly managed.

“One of the first areas of intervention that we prioritised as part of the Turn-around was to stabilise the finance and supply chain management functions. These function have been substantially stabilised enabling us to further improve efficiencies in line with function operations,” he said.

However, Minister Nxesi made it clear that the shocking R34.9 billion irregular expenditure does not represent transactions processed in a single year, that it is the cumulative result of transactions processed over five years, while some of which have their origins further back to 2001.

The Minister said it is crucial to understand that an irregular transaction does not necessary mean that fraud has been committed.

“It also does not mean that it represents money lost or wasted. The department may have obtained value through such transactions although some technical discrepancies occurred during the procurement or payment process,” he said.

Some of the issues that gave rise to the irregular expenditure include procurement documentation not completed; incorrectly approved, where signed documents did not meet the required levels of authority or signatures of delegated officials.

Another area is an instance where tenders were not advertised for the full 21 days, negotiated procedures followed for procurement of contracts or minimum number of quotations was not received.

Minister Nxesi said there is already a significant decrease in the value of irregular transactions throughout the five year period. He said 2009/10 and prior years makes up 65% of the total irregular expenditure; 2010/2011 makes up 14%; 2011/2012 makes up 11%; 2012/2013 makes up 8% and 2013/2014 was reduced to only 2%.

“I am also aware of the fact that there may be transactions identified through this intervention that may be the result of suspicious practices.

“My team has already identified transactions to the value of approximately R1.1 billion that have been referred to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) as well as the Department’s Fraud Awareness and Investigations Unit. This amount forms part of the R34.9 billion,” he said.

The Minister said the department has also bolstered its own internal first-line of investigative capacity to ensure that this all-important task is completed expeditiously in the new financial year.

He also vowed that appropriate action will be taken against perpetrators where there are found to be reasonable grounds for it.

“We have repeatedly mentioned that fraud, corruption and maladministration have no place in the Public Works we are seeking to rebuild,” he said.

Property Management Trading Entity

Minister Nxesi has also hailed the Property Management Trading Entity (PMTE). He said they have begun to experience some of the positive contributions brought by the existence of the PMTE. “…particularly in the area of irregular expenditure which, in the past, contributed to both the department and the PMTE incurring successive adverse audits in the form of disclaimers.” - SAnews.gov.za

Academic and operational activities at all Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) campuses resumed today following a council decision and substantial progress in talks between management and student leaders.

In a bid to address the lack of funding for students to study, a meeting of the full TUT Council has also approved a proposal from the university to make R46 million in student loans available to assist a group of 2 500 unfunded students for the remainder of 2014.

“This amount is in addition to the R30 million contribution already made by the university this year to cover the shortfall on National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding for returning students. More detailed information on the academic recovery plan as well as the rules pertaining to these student loans will be communicated to students after Monday,” the TUT said in statement.

Students have been on a two week-long protest action over NSFAS funding.

Meanwhile, an urgent court application brought by the Student Representative Council against the TUT for the closure of residences was struck off from the roll.

The case was heard on 25 September 2014 by the Northern Gauteng High. The presiding Judge also ruled the order obtained by the university on 12 September 2014 will remain in force.

The ruling allows students to return to the residences provided that they first sign an undertaking that they will not be involved in any violent activities, disrupt university activities or damage property. The ruling is now applicable to all TUT residences. – SAnews.gov.za

The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), on behalf of the banking industry, has warned banking customers of the change in banking details scam.

Sabric Chief Executive Officer Kalyani Pillay said bank customers must be wary when being told that a certain supplier has changed their banking details and must thoroughly verify if the details have indeed changed.

The scam operates by an innocent recipient receiving an email or letter informing them that their particular supplier has changed their bank account details.

The scammers will include details of the new account and the recipient will then be asked to make future payments into the new account.

It is then that the victim will discover that this is a scam as the monies will be paid to the fraudster and not the supplier.

There are numerous ways in which banking customers can ensure that they don’t fall victim to this scam including doing the following:

• Question whether well-known companies would change their banking details without notifying people through more formal channels.
  
  
• Banking customers must confirm any change of banking details with someone you usually deal with at the organisation before making any changes to beneficiary accounts.
  
  
• When calling the organisation to confirm the changes to banking details, use a number from the telephone directory and not the number on the letterhead or fax, as you will in all likelihood be calling the fraudster.
  
  
• Beware of supposedly confirmatory emails from almost identical email addresses, such as .com instead of .co.za, or an address that differs from the genuine one by perhaps one letter that can be easily missed.
  
  
• Instruct staff with the responsibility for paying invoices to scrutinise invoices for irregularities and escalate your suspicions to a known contact.

Top multi-sport athletes, Ian Don-Wauchope and Carla Van Huyssteen set the course ablaze on Saturday, 27 September 2014 when they took on the IMPI Elite Race at the picturesque Van Gaalens Cheese Farm (Hartebeespoort / North West Province).Â* Don-Wauchope conquered the course in a lightning fast time of 01 hour 46 minutes 42 seconds, while [...]Don-Wauchope, Van Huyssteen take Gauteng IMPI is a post from: Trail Running South Africa


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The Department of Arts and Culture is on Friday hosting an event to celebrate International Translation Day.

“South African translators will celebrate International Translation Day to acknowledge translation as a vehicle for social nation building and cohesion, and to create awareness among citizens of language rights as part of their broader democratic rights,” said the Department of Arts and Culture.

The country’s Constitution determined the fundamental language rights of all South Africans. It provides for the 11 official languages and sets out the obligations of all levels of government in terms of the promotion and equal treatment of all these languages.

Translators, terminologists and other language practitioners will use International Translation Day to celebrate the adoption of the legislation and the role played by their profession in providing access to information that assists in ensuring the health, dignity and freedom of all citizens.

One of the department's major achievements in the field of language has been the adoption of the Use of Official Languages Act, 2012.

“This Act requires all national departments, public enterprises and public entities to adopt language policies and establish language units to ensure that members of the public can access government information in the official language of their choice.

“The adoption of such an Act at national level will give further impetus to the adoption of language legislation by all provinces and municipalities,” she said.

Another notable achievement was the adoption of the South African Language Practitioners' Council Act, 2014.

This Act regulates the language profession in areas such as the accreditation, training and employment of language practitioners.

It will also ensure that government, the private sector and members of the public who make use of language practitioners receive professional service.

“For language professionals, it will mean that they will receive proper training, their profession will be protected, and they will receive recognition for their skills when they are employed,” said the department. –SAnews.gov.za

Kronberg 70.3 race report by Katrine Trolle. I must admit that this season has been exiting and great, and the last 2 months I’ve felt that all my hard work was paying off in my training. I felt stronger than ever, so I was looking forward to racing Kronborg as my last race before Kona. [...]Kronborg by Katrine Trolle is a post from: Time-to-Tri


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New York - Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has explained the reason behind the use of a private jet to fly President Jacob Zuma to the 69th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The Minister called on South Africans not to attach a price on the life of the President.

She was reacting to criticism after the Department of Defence hired the private jet to transport President Zuma and his delegation on a working visit to New York. The President could not use the Presidential aircraft, Inkwazi, since it was declared unfit to fly.

Speaking to SAnews on the sidelines of the UNGA, Minister Mapisa-Nqakula said government had no choice but to ensure the President travels safely to New York.

“The President’s aircraft has been a subject of discussion for a very long time. South Africans will recall that last year, I made an undertaking that we will buy a VIP aircraft. That was necessitated by the fact that the current aircraft has many years and in fact, I cannot understand why when we fly the President in a private aircraft that will be an issue.

“I do not think it would be wise of us to allow the President to use the Presidential aircraft when we are told it’s unserviceable,” Minister Mapisa-Nqakula said.

“I do not think the South African National Defence Force would like to put the life of the President in danger when an aircraft is declared unserviceable and we allow the President, who is the commander-in-chief, to use that aircraft.”

The Minister also explained that for security and logistical reasons, the President could not fly on commercial flights, hence the use of the private jet.

“Even for Presidents before him, there were moments when aircrafts would be chattered if it was necessary to do so in order for them to fly to whatever destination. It should not be an issue of the amount of money; you cannot attach money to the life of a person, especially if that person is the President of the country.

“If anything, South Africans should be debating what we are doing to purchase new aircrafts to ensure that the life of the President and everybody else we look after is not endangered,” Minister Mapisa-Nqakula said.

President Jacob Zuma is one of more than 120 Heads of state and Government, who are in New York to participate in this year’s UN General Assembly. He delivered his speech to the assembly on Wednesday night. – SAnews.gov.za

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New York - South Africans will on Wednesday hear what President Jacob Zuma will tell the world about issues concerning South Africa and Africa when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) during the high-level debate at the UN Headquarters, in New York.

More than 120 world leaders will participate in the debate on Wednesday in which three issues will invariably, feature prominently in much of the speeches.

The one issue is the post-2015 agenda and the question of what will happen to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which expire next year. There are proposals to replace the MDGs with what is being referred to as the new sustainable development goals which outline 17 goals and 169 targets. The MDGs have just eight goals and 21 targets.

Debates are also expected to include the perceived threats to global security posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria also known as ISIS and lastly the crisis in Ukraine which is linked to the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 aircraft in eastern Ukraine.

Each Head of State or Government will have 15 minutes to express their views on any matter. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and US President Barack Obama will also speak on Wednesday.

The debate’s opening was earlier scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed to accommodate the Climate Summit called by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

The UNGA is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. Last week, the Presidency said South Africa’s participation at the UNGA will be informed by national interests and priorities, its regional and continental commitments, as well as its aspirations for a prosperous world at peace with itself.

The UN has used this year’s GA to rally governments and civil society behind its ambitious post-2015 development agenda and support for the proposed sustainable development goals.

President Zuma is accompanied to the meeting by several of his Cabinet ministers including ministers of Defence, International Relations and Cooperation, State Security, Social Development and Environmental Affairs.

On Monday, President Zuma had a private meeting with Ban at the latter’s offices.

Earlier this week, South Africa reiterated its calls for the transformation of the United Nations Security Council it said was still biased towards the west. The UNGA debate is expected to carry on over a few days. A meeting to discuss the Ebola crisis is scheduled for Friday. – SAnews.gov.za