Parliament revives discussions into complaint against AG made by former employee

CAPE TOWN - Parliament has revived discussions into a complaint against Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke made by a former employee.

The standing committee on the Auditor-General met on Friday to discuss the complaint and affidavit of Mlungisi Mabaso, who accused Maluleke of wrongdoing about three years ago.

But Mabaso was fired by AG in 2022 after he was found to have committed gross misconduct for threatening Maluleke and making several accusations against her, saying he could cause her harm.

An independent report later cleared Maluleke of any wrongdoing.

The standing committee met to receive legal advice on Mabaso’s complaint. He accused the AG of irregularities related to payments Maluleke authorised while still the deputy AG.

Mabaso also attempted to extort an unauthorised gratification from Maluleke in exchange for not disclosing the allegations.

Parliament legal advisor Fatima Ebrahim said nothing prevents the committee from looking into outstanding issues from the complaint.

“Nothing prevents the committee from identifying anything further that may have emanated from the affidavit of Mr Mabaso’s complaint that it wishes the AG to pay attention to and come back and report on.”

Committee chairperson Wouter Wessels said they must consider reopening the investigation and look at all relevant documents.

“Deal with it in the form of reopening of an investigation, for instance, call the complainant before the committee, call the AG, deal with it, or will it be sufficient to make a determination on the matter on the basis of the documents before us.”

Wessels said they would look at their programme before scheduling a follow-up meeting to resolve on the way forward.