The National Treasury has responded to recent allegations made by Mzwanele (Jimmy) Manyi and his Decolonisation Foundation against chief procurement officer Kenneth Brown.
Manyi went public with allegations that Brown had received suspiciously large amounts of money.
“Given the commitment of National Treasury to act on any forms of impropriety, we view these allegations in a very serious light, as we would against any official of the National Treasury,” the organisation states.
“National Treasury as an institution charged with the responsibility of overseeing public finances in the interest of our country, strives to do so with integrity, proper and sound governance at all levels.
“National Treasury will institute a process to determine the veracity of these allegations with a view to take appropriate steps. However, such process requires that those in possession of relevant information provide it. In this regard, the National Treasury has written to Mzwanele Manyi and his Decolonisation Foundation as well as Lt General Ntlemeza (Head of Hawks) to get the purported dossier that supports these allegations.
“National Treasury hopes that Mr Manyi is raising this matter in good faith and in accordance with laws like The Protection of Personal Information Act. We also note that in reporting this matter to the law enforcement authorities, he at the same time saw it fit to go public with information that has not been tested and by doing so may be implicating an innocent person.
“National Treasury hopes that, this is not a deliberate attempt to sow seeds of suspicion on the integrity of the National Treasury, and casting aspersion on the character of Mr Brown who has a longstanding record of serving the public service with great dedication.
“National Treasury is committed to act on any forms of impropriety at all levels within its ranks by taking preventive action against corruption and ensuring a clean procurement system in government. This could include requiring senior executives in the National Treasury to subject themselves to independent processes of probity such as lifestyle audits, if necessary.
“We also appeal to those making allegations against officials of the National Treasury to demonstrate that they too are free of ill motives to advance their narrow interests at the expense of the public interest, and have no conflicts of interest related to procurement of goods and services from the public sector.”
