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·      Lehlogonolo Masoga, who is now Services Sector Education and Training Authority, says forensic investigators were biased ·      The former MMSEZ CEO only received the final forensic report after it was leaked to the media and wants the Polokwane High Court to review and set it aside ·      Morar Incorporated accused Masoga of backdating a marketing and public relations contract by six months to justify payments

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Former Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) CEO, Lehlogonolo Masoga, has gone on a warpath to clear himself of malfeasance by lodging a court application to review and set aside a damning forensic audit report.

Masoga argues in court papers that he was not given an opportunity to state his side of the story and only became aware of the forensic report compiled by Morar Incorporated when a journalist asked him questions.

The saga started in 2022 when MMSEZ used the services of a private company, Mahuma Group (Pty) Ltd, for marketing and public relations.

Mahuma signed a one-year service level agreement valued at R4.4 million.

The report found that Masoga and Shavana Mushwana allegedly backdated the contract by six months to justify payments made to the company when it was eventually signed.

Morar recommended that Masoga be subjected to a disciplinary hearing but that did not happen until he left at the expiry of his fixed five-year contract on July 31 2024.

Masoga is former Economic Development MEC and legislature deputy speaker in Limpopo.

In his court papers, Masoga wants the Polokwane High Court to issue an order that:

·      The investigation report by Morar be corrected, reviewed and set aside;

·      The conclusions and recommendation in the report were not supported by any tangible evidence;

·      Morar violated Masoga’s audi alteram partem rights;

·      MMSEZ’s failure to implement the report constituted a waiver and was an abuse on Masoga’s rights to dignity and reputation because MMSEZ withheld the report and only made it available after it had been leaked to the media.

Masoga said that he was furnished the report seven months after its completion and 21 days before his employment contract expired.

He also obtained a legal opinion advising the MMSEZ that its authority to discipline him ended when his contract expired.

“The conclusion of the Morar report that the SLA was backdated is unsubstantiated and contradicted by documentary evidence. I submit that such averments are unfounded and deemed incompetent to justify the conclusion, alternatively, the recommendation against me,” reads Masoga’s application.

Masoga said that Morar investigators solely relied on misrepresentations by Mushwana instead of official supply chain management records and board minutes.

“[Morar Incorporated’s] findings that I backdated the SLA with the service provider is irrational and unsupported by any evidence that served during the investigation,” he said.

Masoga stated that the expenditure on this contract was subjected to the auditor-general’s scrutiny on two financial years and no evidence of irregular expenditure was found.

MMSEZ spokesperson, Shavana Mushwana, did not respond to written questions.

The report has been a burden on Masoga’s employment prospects. When Higher Education minister, Buti Manamela, appointed him as administrator of the Services Sector Education and Training Authority in August, opposition political parties protested at Masoga’s unsuitability because of the Morar report.