The Minister of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana has been bold in her actions to have her department put under scrutiny for unnecessary spending. This has been confirmed by the report leaked to media that provides more details into her courage that has been applauded by many organisations.
The report shows that Minister Lulu Xingwana commissioned Fluxmans Attorneys firm to investigate a number of irregularities including allegations of nepotism, fraud and mismanagement within the department. The Times reported that Xingwana was very shocked by the findings of the investigation.
According to the report some of the findings were:
Seven staff members - three directors, an assistant director, a driver, a
manager and an assistant - were found to be unfit for their jobs. Investigators mentioned a driver-cum-messenger who got the job despite having a criminal record and no matric qualification.
According to The Time report, Fluxmans Attorney also found that more than R85000 was spent to relocate an administrative officer from
Eastern Cape to Pretoria and then put her up at a hotel for 31 days at
almost R1000 a day. "An assistant to a personal secretary was paid thousands in the 2011-2012
financial year. "We have been unable to establish the basis upon which
the overtime of R180000 was approved as a blanket amount the
reasons for such overtime having being worked."
It is believed that Minister Xingwana has been proactive and decisive to make sure that she root out corruption in her department despite bad publicity she has received from media biased reporting. It reported that all employees mentioned in the report commissioned by the attorney have since been fired from the department and more suspensions are looming.