Matjila accused of putting PIC IT system at risk

Former CEO of the PIC Dan Matjila has been accused of putting the IT system of the fund manager at risk by giving an external party super power access to the system.

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) probe in Pretoria has heard that Matjila insisted on being given all the IT systems admin passwords for the entire organisation.

Matjila arranged an email address for forensic investigator Frans Lekubo of Naledi Advisory without the knowledge of the former IT Executive Head at PIC Vuyokazi Menye.

Menye has been testifying at the Commission about her interactions with Matjila.

“He stood up and said, ‘Vuyokazi this is my organisation. I own PIC. Give me all the systems passwords.’ And I begged him that we will be exposing the organisation to a high risk. We had information leaks at the organisation and I was trying to secure the IT organisation as a custodian of information systems, especially when you send them via the e-mail. We are the leading investment house in Africa and you expose your information and your systems.”

She told the commission that at some point she was excluded from a decision to hire an ethical hacker to test the IT systems at the Fund manager.

Menye says she also discovered that Matjila had instructed Lekubo to spy on emails going to six executives including herself.

This came amid attempts to electronically track down a whistle-blower who had made allegations of wrongdoing against Matjila.

James Noko’s emails

The storm at the PIC was started by the James Noko emails that accused former CEO Dan Matjila of corruption.
Menye told of a campaign spearheaded by Matjila in search for the the sender of the emails.

She says Matjila wanted James Noko found and taught a lesson.

Under Matjila’s instruction the matter was taken to the police, with the aim of uncovering who James Noko was. But the Police said the sender is a whistle-blower and that they would register a case of corruption alleged in the emails.

Matjila was accused of irregularly fascilitating funding for a company belonging to a woman alleged to be his girlfriend.

After Matjila found out about the case, Menye was suspended and subsequently forced to settle with the PIC to leave the organisation.

Menye settled for R7.25 million however with an acknowledgement by the PIC that she had done nothing wrong. Additional reporting by Glorious Sefako-Musi. 

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