Masoga approaches High Court for justice over porn bill saga
Former Deputy Speaker of the Limpopo Legislature, Lehlogonolo Masoga told Bonus on Monday that he only wanted justice. “I don’t want money, I just want justice. I had paid the Legislature, I don’t want the money back.”
POLOKWANE – The former Deputy Speaker of the Limpopo Legislature, Lehlogonolo Masoga, is “fighting for justice,” after a second report was released in 2018 with a recommendation by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane that he should pay back ‘a reasonable portion’ of a phone bill of around R125 000 incurred while on an official trip in the US in August 2014.
According to Masoga the law requires a competent court to set aside any report released by the Public Protector, and this process was not followed by Mkhwebane, who distanced her office from a report issued by the provincial office in May 2017, saying the report was “prematurely and irregularly concluded” by provincial officials.
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The investigation was classified ‘Special Attention Matters’ and only the PP herself could close such an investigation. There was no court ruling to this effect, however. Mkhwebane issued the second report mid-2018.
Masoga has now approached the Gauteng North High Court in Pretoria to have the second report reviewed and set aside and to accept the first report that was released by the provincial office of the PP. The Legislature has now joined as a party to the proceedings, and Masoga told BONUS the court dates are to be determined. He said the Public Protector is not opposing the case.
According to the PP, Masoga’s bill amounted to a significant amount and in the second report, found the amount spent by Masoga was unreasonably high compared to the other members of the legislature who had travelled with him. He stated he could not be compared to them, as he had other functions to fulfil while there. Masoga also said that another reason for the high bill could be that he forgot to switch off his phone’s roaming function and thus also had to pay for incoming calls.
He told BONUS on Monday that he only wanted justice. “I don’t want money, I just want justice. I had paid the Legislature, I don’t want the money back.”
The second report stated that the Legislature must, within 60 days of its release, review Sections 6,5 and 6,6 of their policy to provide for a combined telephone, tablet and laptop data allowance for MPLs per international trip abroad.
Masoga claimed that it was acknowledged by the Legislature that he did not exceed any set limit and that he did not necessarily violate applicable internal policy, which set a limit of R6 000 for domestic data usage for the Deputy Speaker. He said the accounting officer also admitted that phone bills may be high, especially when officials are abroad due to roaming services and data usage.
Three other officials who accompanied Masoga abroad had bills ranging from R12 419 to R25 214,36.
“It was an oversight of the employer (Legislature) not to cap the amount,” Masoga said.
