Latest news with #StandingCommitteeonPublicAccounts
IOL News
28-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Collins Letsoalo placed on special leave as CEO of the Road Accident Fund amid corruption allegations
Collins Letsoalo placed on special leave as CEO of the Road Accident Fund amid corruption allegations Letsoalo, who appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) this morning, was suspended with full pay. The Road Accident chief executive, Collins Letsoalo, has been placed on special leave. He has been implicated in several allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption, primarily centred around a controversial R79 million lease deal for the offices in Johannesburg. A preliminary report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) found that Letsoalo interfered with the procurement process by overturning a bid committee's recommendation to favour Mowana Properties, a losing bidder linked to the Government Employees Pension Fund, which ultimately secured the lease agreement.
IOL News
28-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Collins Letsoalo suspended as CEO of the Road Accident Fund amid corruption allegations
Letsoalo, who appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) this morning, was suspended with full pay. He has been implicated in several allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption, primarily centred around a controversial R79 million lease deal for the offices in Johannesburg. A preliminary report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) found that Letsoalo interfered with the procurement process by overturning a bid committee's recommendation to favour Mowana Properties, a losing bidder linked to the Government Employees Pension Fund, which ultimately secured the lease agreement.
Eyewitness News
23-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
SCOPA chair Zibi says time to get budget process back on track
CAPE TOWN - Chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) Songezo Zibi says it's time to get the budget process back on track after a value-added tax (VAT) debacle that has derailed two previous attempts to table a budget for the country. In his latest iteration of the budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has opted to lift a three-year freeze on increasing the fuel levy instead of raising the standard tax rate. Zibi said the budget debate has become about taxation rather than the realities of spending cuts to key departments such as health and education to fund the R2.5 trillion budget. "The debate around the budget is supposed to be about the order of those priorities - and whether these allocations are sufficient, or to be spent in an efficient manner. We never got the chance to have that discussion. I hope that now there will be an opportunity to do so."
IOL News
22-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Scopa chair calls for urgent action to address fiscal leakage in South Africa
Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi says the work of releasing funds that are stuck in inefficiencies, incompetence, and poor planning should begin so that those funds can go towards investing in things that will fix the economy. Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers The Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairperson, Songezo Zibi, said on Thursday there was a need to fix a whole lot of problems to get to a point where fiscal leakage was stopped and public finances began flowing to the right things. 'We have to do the work of releasing funds that are stuck in inefficiencies, incompetence, and poor planning so that those funds can go towards investing in things that will fix the economy,' Zibi said. He made the statement during the post-Budget briefing by chairpersons of finance cluster committees when they were asked about pressure they could make on the relevant portfolio committee and those involved regarding the review of fuel price structure. This is after the Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana proposed the increase of fuel levy, which is believed will hit the poor and inevitably lead to an increase in transport costs. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ In his response, Zibi noted that there were serious reductions made in the Budget that ranged from education, health, and infrastructure, among others, compared to allocations made in the March Budget. 'The question about VAT, fundamentally, was about how much money we should allocate for those problems. Do you want to give the government more or less money? The view was that the government should get less money – that is the impact. The question, really, is not about the fuel levy, but how much less you want to give the government and which of the things we must continue to cut,' Zibi said. He also said there must be short-term pain as part of resourcing the things the government must do. 'There must also be work on spending reviews,' said Zibi before noting that there was no accountability for those who waste public funds and that the government continued to overpay for goods and services. Mmusi Maimane, chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, said the process of reviewing the fuel price must be paramount. He also said his take on the Budget was that Godongwana was operating within a very constrained wiggle room, and the one cushion that could be relied on was that inflation was relatively low. 'I think we need to really review how we look at the fuel price, and therefore I will certainly raise the question with the Minister of Finance tomorrow,' Maimane said. He emphasised the importance of strengthening the currency and benefiting from the weakening dollar. 'We have to ensure the trade balance is stronger, and therefore, I can't stress enough the importance of attracting foreign direct investment. Part of that is to have a stronger currency to ensure, actually, your currency is not weak, so that purchasing power on oil is lower and will help with fuel price,' Maimane said. Joe Maswanganyi, Finance Committee chairperson, said citizens and the corporate sector have the responsibility to pay tax to fund public services. Maswanganyi said there should be no promotion of a situation where the public and corporate do not want to pay taxes. 'There is no state that can function without revenue; otherwise, if you run a state on populace, at some stage, that state will collapse. Taxation enables the government to fund essential public goods,' he said. However, Maswanganyi said they understood the implication of the fuel levy increase, but stated that it has been mitigated. 'The minister spoke about putting more money into transport, and in this regard, on the commuter rail system. It is highly subsided and is quite cheaper compared to other modes of transport in South Africa. The more you have commuter trains back on the railway lines, the more the poor, working class, and workers will use that mode of transport.'
eNCA
17-05-2025
- Business
- eNCA
Budget 3.0 Treasury prepares for tough budget talks
JOHANNESBURG - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will deliver the third version of the Budget on Wednesday. Who will carry which costs, what are the expected shifts, and how will government address the revenue gap? Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Songezo Zibi, had a sit-down with eNCA's Heidi Giokos and unpacked what Parliament is watching, and why it matters.
