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Sunday Times reports that the controversial R5bn job creation scheme concluded between the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Thuja Capital Fund without any due diligence has claimed its first casualty.
According to two independent sources, Thuja’s boss, Mthunzi Mdwaba, has been removed from the board of state entity Productivity SA by Department of Employment & Labour (DEL) Minister Thulas Nxesi. Productivity SA is an entity of Nxesi’s department tasked with saving and creating jobs, and relies on funding from the UIF, among other organisations. The R5bn Thuja-UIF agreement proceeded despite having been rejected by internal UIF adjudication structures because Thuja had no track record. The deal had also been rejected by the Public Investment Corporation. UIF commissioner Tebogo Maruping overrode the objections and motivated for DEL director-general Thobile Lamati to approve the agreement, which he did. Nxesi pulled the plug on the scheme after it was exposed in the press. Mdwaba was removed in terms of the Employment Services Act, which allows Nxesi to remove a member of the board if they acquire an interest in a business or enterprise that may conflict or interfere with their functions as a board member. Mdwaba’s axing follows Nxesi’s referral of Lamati’s conduct to President Cyril Ramaphosa for a decision on how to proceed. The action taken against the two follows a forensic report Nxesi commissioned into the debacle.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sabelo Skiti at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page