The chief financial officer and the corporate services director at the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture are still at their desks following their arrests by the Hawks on fraud charges last week.
THE CHIEF financial officer (CFO) and the corporate services director at the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture are still at their desks following their arrests by the Hawks on fraud charges last week.
The CFO, Andrian Coleridge, and corporate services director, Bonakele Jacobs, along with the former acting head of the department, Ruth Palm, appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on March 6 in connection with the Umsobomvu youth festival that was supposed to be held in Colesberg in 2016.
The service providers were paid R1 million although the festival never took place as scheduled.
The accused are facing charges of fraud, money laundering and contravening the Public Finance Management Act and were released on bail of R10,000 each.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) said that the head of the department had yet to respond to requests to suspend the two officials by March 8.
Nehawu branch secretary Moses Vorster called for the immediate suspension of the two executive managers, failing which industrial action would be embarked upon.
Department spokesperson Conrad Fortune explained that they were still consulting with various organs of state.
“The outcome of the consultation process will determine the fate of the executive managers that have been charged for alleged fraud,” said Fortune.
“Communication between Nehawu and the HOD is purely an operational matter that the two parties are currently dealing with.”
