The truth is tax deductible

Your hard-earned taxes are being used to abuse whistleblowers [View this email in your browser]( November 16, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, What is your tax spent on? The answer should be: on necessary and often overlooked services. These include healthcare, safety and security, housing, roads, railways, harbours and communications. Unfortunately that money is also used, apparently, to abuse whistleblowers and victimise those who speak out against rampant graft in state-owned enterprises. If the name Martha Ngoye means nothing to you, it’s time to get familiar. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is suing Ngoye, its suspended head of legal services, for R45-million for her role in a R58-million extension to a contract with SA Fence and Gate. But in February, arbitrator advocate Lindi Nkosi-Thomas awarded Prasa R45.1-million from SA Fence and Gate after the latter was given a R47-million contract to supply lighting, but delivered only R1.9-million worth of lights. It was Ngoye who led the team that won this victory for Prasa. As no good deed goes unpunished, Prasa is now gunning for Ngoye for R45-million, according to a summons issued on 24 August. Confusing? Let’s go back to 2013. That year Prasa entered into a contract worth R209-million with SA Fence and Gate for the installation of fences and other security measures at train depots across the country. After work on the initial contract began, Prasa and SA Fence and Gate began ironing out a [deal to extend the contract]( to include, among other items, the provision and installation of lighting at the depots. This extension was improperly approved by Palello Lebaka, a Prasa executive who was subsequently shown the door after several disciplinary hearings. Since the state-owned entity did need the lights, Ngoye, as acting group chief executive, approved the extension of the SA Fence and Gate contract to include lighting, on the recommendation of then chief procurement officer Josephat Phungula and the company’s bid advisory committee. However, after a dispute between SA Fence and Gate and lighting subcontractor Top 6, only R1.9-million worth of lights were installed, although Prasa had paid SA Fence and Gate millions to get the job done. R47-million to be exact. SA Fence and Gate contended that the lighting extension was not authorised by Prasa’s board and was, therefore, void. On 30 January this year, Prasa’s board chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane used this same line of thinking in his announcement of Ngoye’s dismissal. “Prasa has also resolved to institute legal proceedings against Ms Ngoye for unlawfully approving payment of R58-million to SA Fence & Gate when she had no authority to do so,” he said. Yet this contention was not supported by the arbitrator Nkosi-Thomas, who found that the approval of the lighting was an administrative decision, not a board one, and that it was supported on 20 January 2015 by Ngoye as acting group chief executive, and then ratified in December 2015 by the steering committee of the board. Ngoye has had a hard time of it for a while now. The cause of the workplace drama and court visits began with her “crime” of whistleblowing and saving the already financially hobbled company millions. Since Ramatlakane became board chairperson of Prasa, the rail agency has been on a seemingly never-ending campaign to punish Ngoye, despite her actions being crucial to saving Prasa billions of rands, including the victories in the [Swifambo “tall trains” matter]( the [Siyangena station]( upgrades, and putting a [R1-billion “investment”]( in the now-defunct VBS bank. At the end of January 2021, Ngoye and Nkosinathi Khena, the chief operating officer, were fired for purportedly overstaying the terms of their contracts with Prasa. On 2 February, Tiro Holele, general manager: strategy, was also sacked for the same reason. In early March, Ngoye, Khena and Holele, were reinstated to their positions by the labour court. Acting Judge Moses Baloyi found that the reasons advanced by Prasa for the dismissals were without evidence or justification. When Prasa refused to allow the trio to return to work, they bagged a second victory, compelling the rail agency to restore them to their positions. Prasa applied for leave to appeal the initial judgment, and that application was dismissed, with the company’s arguments deemed “grossly misconceived”. All three were awarded costs against Prasa in all these matters. Despite consecutive defeats, Prasa has launched an application for leave to appeal in the labour appeal court. No dates for this hearing have been announced yet, so Ngoye remains suspended. As a result of the delay, Ngoye, Khena and Holele returned to the labour court in Johannesburg to ask that Prasa be compelled to honour the initial order. In February, Ngoye testified before the state capture inquiry telling Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, “Chair, you have called on people who have witnessed the state capture to come to the commission and testify. These are people that witnessed the capture, those who benefited and those who assisted in the capture, whose actions saw them being elevated to positions they did not deserve. There are also those who looked the other way.” “Those like myself, regarded by the main actors as dangerous, have been pushed out of their jobs and rendered lepers. When I first came to testify at this commission, I was an employee of Prasa. But I was ultimately pushed out of the organisation by the board of Prasa, based on spurious reasons …” Now, contrast this with the treatment of former Prasa chairperson Sfiso Buthelezi. Buthelezi was board chairperson at Prasa from 2009 until 2014, during some of Prasa’s most astoundingly corrupt years. In this period, Prasa undertook a significant modernisation programme to manufacture trains and rail infrastructure for millions of commuters. However, this was soon waylaid by a greasy network of politically connected companies and businesspeople who systematically bypassed the procurement process under Buthelezi’s watch. When you cut corners and use money for everything but what it was intended for, it shows. The [breakdown of Prasa’s infrastructure and service declined so dramatically]( that the majority of South Africans who used to rely on the affordable and once-reliable train service have had to turn to more expensive, and often dangerous modes of public transport. In a stunning irony, Buthelezi is now the chairperson of the standing committee on appropriations in parliament, responsible not just for allocating funding to government departments, including state-owned entities like Prasa, but also for ensuring compliance with the Public Finance Management Act and other procurement legislation. Buthelezi is accused of flouting these same laws, and implicated by multiple forensic investigations into corruption and maladministration Prasa. Leadership and governance issues have long wrought havoc at Prasa and are integral reasons for the [agency being awarded a disclaimer]( the worst possible audit outcome, for two years in a row. In its recent assessment of Prasa, the office of the auditor general said: “Together with the complacent attitude, lack of accountability and lack of effort of some executives to address the collapse of the internal controls … combined with the significant matters that have been repeatedly reported over the previous audits, has contributed to the stagnated audit outcome.” Ngoye’s words at the Zondo commission, quoted above, explain why so few people do come forward or, if they do speak out, like Athol Williams, are forced to leave the country. [Babita Deokaran]( is dead. [Williams is in parts unknown](. Ngoye is still out of a job. Again we ask, what is your tax being used on? Until tomorrow, Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? Share it with your friends [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2021 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. 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