McKenzie shocked as NAC CFO fails to explain R40,000 double payment

EFF MP Eugene Mthethwa has told National Arts Council (NAC) chief financial officer Reshma Bhoola that she does not deserve her job, after she could not explain a R40,000 double payment that was never recovered.

“Ma'am, you are not deserving to be sitting there, especially in that position. A very critical position. Money has been lost through your hands, but you’re still sitting in that position. I don’t know what power you have,” Mthethwa said in Parliament on Tuesday, 10 November.

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie said what he heard was “very shocking”.

Mthethwa raised the payment in the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture.

“During the second wave, there was a batch that was paid R40,000 into the wrong account. How did you resolve that issue? Did you recoup that R40,000? How did you end up paying into an account that has some relation to the approved beneficiary, but not into the beneficiary’s account?” he asked.

Bhoola said it was a duplicate Covid-19 relief payment. She said the money was not recorded as a loss.

“From my recollection, we overpaid on that specific tranche. But in totality, the entire allocation had not been exceeded, and therefore it was not reflected as fruitless and wasteful expenditure. If it was fruitless, it would have been recorded as such. But I believe it’s the same transaction. It did not exceed the total value awarded to beneficiary,” Bhoola said.

Mthethwa said that an earlier acting CEO had asked for a report on the payment.

“If that was the case, why would the interim CEO request you to submit a report explaining what happened, which she never received? Instead, she was met with an abrupt suspension or removal,” he said.

“Honourable member, there wasn’t a request for that R40,000. I can give you the evidence,” Bhoola said.

“I want to remind you that lying to us is a statutory offence,” Mthethwa replied.

Bhoola said the auditors would have picked it up.

“If it exceeded the value they were awarded, we would firstly have tried to recoup those funds. Secondly, if it was not recouped, it would have been reflected. It would also have been identified by the internal auditors, and thereafter the external auditors,” she said.

Mthethwa did not accept this. “There’s a difference between exceeding and double paying. Exceeding would maybe be by a few thousand rand. But you double paid. And as soon as you double paid, you didn’t recoup. What action did you take against the beneficiary who benefited unduly from public funds?” he asked.

McKenzie said he would act. “What I hear here today is very shocking, that your questions have not been answered. Out of this meeting, there shall be another meeting that I will have with the DG regarding what I’m hearing here about double payments and you not getting answers on the report,” McKenzie said.

Mthethwa called for a skills audit across arts entities. “I think one of the things the sector requires us to do is a skills audit. And also the training of board members and directors, to understand clearly what it means to be a director. People just accept positions because they think it’s a status,” he said.

“You can see, somebody who is educated, like the acting CFO. She’s so educated, but she doesn’t understand the responsibilities that come with being a CFO. And yet this person has been getting a market-related salary, while somebody out there without a job could be doing this better,” he continued.

Bhoola is the NAC’s interim CFO. The Public Protector has asked for documents in its investigation into her and Julie Diphofa. The NAC council says a Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr investigation cleared them both. It has not released that report.