Johannesburg - This week, the party approached the Hawks to lay criminal charges against Nhlululo Development. The action comes after the party’s Gauteng shadow MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Kingsol Chabalala and his team discovered that the service provider has allegedly failed to pay the Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute R180 000.
Chabalala said the institute has engaged the department on the issue, and they claim the department told them that it is no longer their problem and that they must solve it.
He said the party had tabled written questions to the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC, Mbali Hlophe. The party said it wants to know how the service provider was appointed, and what measures can be put in place to recover the money.
“We have not received responses from the MEC on the questions we sent to her office because the legislation states that she can respond within four and six weeks. We want to check whether the department has awarded this company other contracts, and if so, we want to know if they have delivered the services as per their contract stipulations,” Chabalala said.
The party believes that Nhlululo Development’s appointment bears the signs of corruption and money laundering.
“A service provider cannot be so daring and run away with money meant for the development of young women if they are not working with officials from the department. We believe this is no ordinary theft. There is more than meets the eye. As a law enforcement agency, we trust that the Hawks will uncover the truth,” he said.
Chabalala said the suspected owner was tracked down but seemed unfazed when Jaco Coetzer, the institute’s founder and coach, contacted him.
“The way this person responded to Coetzer, further supports our suspicion that there is corruption involved,” Chabalala said.
When the publication attempted to contact the alleged suspect, his phone went unanswered.
Departmental Spokesperson Nomazwe Ntlokwana this week said the department was made aware of the no payment to the Institute.
She explained that the department used Nhlululo Development as an intermediary as part of initiatives on its governance and compliance measures and had identified the transfers to various entities as an inherent risk and this is a means to circumvent losses.
"Hence a competitive bidding process was a better option for the department. With regards to the current financial situation at the institute, the department only knows as far as it was informed by Mr. Coetzer and has not investigated the accuracy of such information.
The department is exploring the possibility of working with the South African Police Services to trace the Nhlululo Development to assist the Institute," she said.