Another irregular set of pre-payments to service providers amounting to R68 million has been detected at the North West government.
Thirteen lease agreements have been signed at the Department of Social Development following other recent revelations of alleged irregular payments to a Gupta related company worth R180 million.
Former acting Head of the Department of Social Development Itumeleng Mogorosi says he was pressured to approve these payments, months before work was done.
Mogorosi, who is on suspension, testified before the Portfolio Committee on Social Development.
“During the acting period, I was forced to finalise lease agreements, for all service points. The amount that was discussed is about R68 million, a very significant amount. I know this is career-limiting but I cannot commit irregularity of that amount. It is material breach of the PFMA. They have ran tenders that have not been advertised, it was not even open tender. These transactions are irregular. The department was even in a rush to sign these lease agreements when the buildings were not even ready for occupation. Why undertake a process questionable and do pre-payments?”
