Fishermen's vouchers probed

2003-08-15 18:56

Cape Town - The Western Cape provincial Auditor-General on Friday confirmed that his office would be conducting an independent preliminary investigation into allegations of irregularities involving food vouchers, needy fishermen and an ANC member.

Said provincial AG Willie Brits: "We will look at the entire process of how money was spent, allocated and distributed, and will give feedback to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in about a week's time."

The Democratic Alliance's Robin Carlisle recommended during Friday's Scopa meeting that the committee and the AG investigate the circumstances in which between 127 and 150 food vouchers to the value of R500 each were distributed to destitute fishermen in Struisbaai and Agulhas this month.

These vouchers were apparently only redeemable at "Die Kosmandjie", a shop owned by ANC councillor Michael Dennis.

According to Carlisle this was "directly" in conflict with provisions contained in the Public Finance Management Act. Furthermore, Carlisle said the vouchers were not worth more than R350, and that voucher holders were not given a choice to select which goods they wanted.

"If my information is substantiated, it would appear that a crime would have been committed and the province defrauded to the tune of some R19 000," Carlisle said.

Brits said further investigations by Scopa into the matter would be dependent on the AG's preliminary findings.

Meanwhile, the DA on Friday sent letters to Western Cape premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk and Social Services and Poverty Alleviation MEC Marius Fransman calling for more information on the issuing of the welfare vouchers.

Fransman's spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said that "they are investigating the case to determine how the service provider was allocated the right to provide the supplies to the fishermen".

- SAPA