Suspended chief financial officer charged with serious misconduct
Tumisang Moeketsane, the suspended chief financial officer (CFO) of J.B. Marks Municipality, is facing disciplinary charges for serious misconduct.
Tumisang Moeketsane, the suspended chief financial officer (CFO) of J.B. Marks Municipality, is facing disciplinary charges for serious misconduct. According to the DA councillor, Hans Jurie Moolman, the disciplinary hearing (not determined yet) will be led by an independent chairperson. The prosecution of charges will be conducted by an administrator or legal representative of the municipality.
Moeketsane, who was appointed on 14 December 2017, is facing serious allegations, primarily of misconduct and failure to execute responsibilities and obligations as the CFO. They relate to the Auditor-General’s (AG) annual audit of the financial statements for the financial year from 30 June 2019 to 30 June 2020.
One of the charges she is facing is the failure to oversee the proper, effective and due functioning of the Department: Financial Services of the J.B. Marks Municipality, leading to the incomplete, inaccurate, and incorrect drafting of the annual financial statements for the financial year-ends.
The CFO’s record-keeping was inadequate, so the AG could not obtain sufficient, appropriate audit evidence for unresolved irregular expenditure and some items in irregular expenditure for the current and previous years. The irregular expenditure was understated by more than R27 million.
Unauthorised expenditure of more than R8 million was incurred in the current year and unauthorised expenditure of more than R8 million in respect of prior years had not yet been dealt with. Moeketsane is also facing 19 charges of non-compliance with legislation.
Other charges include procurement irregularities during the national state of disaster. She allegedly allowed personal protective equipment items to be purchased at inflated prices. She is charged with failing to oversee a proper supply chain management process and failure to provide proper guidance and advice to municipal staff, leading to irregular, unauthorised or fruitless, and wasteful expenditure being incurred.
Chris Hattingh, a DA councillor at the J.B. Marks Municipality, says this is just another indictment against the former mayor, Kgotso Khumalo’s administration. “It took an administrator from the outside to recognise the misconduct and act on it. This serious misconduct went on unchallenged for the past decade, while the DA complained about it. This disciplinary hearing is a smart step in the battle against fraud, theft, and corruption and it will take years to clean up the whole J.B. Marks administration,” he says.
The Herald approached the municipality for comment but there had been no feedback by the time of going to print.
