The national department of public service and administration produced the report after the Northern Cape legislature asked it to investigate.<\/p>\n
The report says the three officials recommended that managers get two salary increases in 2008 while the legislature was servicing an overdraft and had to cut back on running costs.<\/p>\n
While other legislature staff received normal annual increases those of the managers were boosted to levels on a par with those of parliamentary staff. The report cites the auditor general’s recording of unauthorised expenditure totalling R44.4-million in 2008\/2009, which included employees’ remuneration and some goods and services. It also notes that the legislature’s annual report said it overspent on salaries by R2.7-million in that financial year.<\/p>\n
The same again<\/strong><\/p>\n The “secret” report and other official documents seen by the M&G<\/em> show that all legislature employees received a standard annual increase on April 1 2008. However, senior managers and managers received another increase with effect from November 1 that year.<\/p>\n According to the report Legodi, Mekgwe and Milford signed a memorandum recommending these revised salary structures and confirming that funds were available.<\/p>\n In November 2008 management issued a letter announcing cost-containment measures that resulted in all staff having to bring their own tea, coffee, sugar and milk to the office.<\/p>\n Staff who spoke to the M&G<\/em> in confidence said the measures made it difficult for them to execute their duties and asked why their managers had received their second annual increases in the same month the cost-saving measures were put in place.<\/p>\n Mekgwe, Legodi and Milford failed to respond to the M&G<\/em>‘s queries. Public service department spokesperson Lebohang Mafokosi referred the M&G<\/em> to the legislature for comment. Speaker Boeboe van Wyk’s office said all three would face disciplinary charges of financial mismanagement.<\/p>\n * Got a tip-off for us about this story? Email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n
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