The provincial finance and local government and traditional affairs departments have been ordered to prepare a comprehensive report on the circumstances around R200m that was withdrawn from the Bapo Ba Mogale Community Trust Account, which is also known as the D-account.

This came after the provincial standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) called the two departments to account for millions of rands remitted to the community through mineral royalties by different mining companies operating in the area.

The community has long complained it was not benefiting from the royalties and often blamed the provincial government over the issue.

At a meeting held in Brits on Tuesday, finance MEC Paul Sebegoe and the province’s accountant-general, Geo Paul, presented details to the public accounts committee of all the money deposited into the Bapo Ba Mogale D-account from 1992 to date and the interest accumulated.

However, matters came to a head when it emerged that R200m had been withdrawn without adequate explanation of what it was used for or who had made the withdrawals.

Paul told the committee that the finance department only maintained accounting records relating to traditional authorities, account receipts and payments for each tribe and distributed interest earned to the respective tribal accounts but did not account for what the tribes did with the money.

Scopa refused to entertain a report from the local government and traditional affairs department after its head, Johnny Motlogelwa, failed to attend the meeting.

The committee ordered that the two departments go back and prepare a comprehensive report and explain how the R200m had been used.

Committee chairperson Hlomane Chauke said it was clear the provincial government did not have clear policies on the D-account, leaving it vulnerable to unscrupulous people.

“There was clear dereliction of duty on the part of the finance department and issues of potential mismanagement and corruption cannot be ruled out.

“If they cannot account for the R200m in this particular community it means most mining communities run the risk of being prejudiced, especially where administrators are appointed to manage these accounts,” he said.

Chauke said Scopa would work together with the public protector to make sure that all the money was accounted for and those who might have looted the account were brought to book.

Deputy speaker of the provincial legislature Philemon Mapulane also called on the two departments to cooperate so that accountability on the use of money from the account could be restored.

“The finance department cannot keep releasing funds while administrators do not account for them. The department should have refused to give them money unless they had their financial statements reconciled.”

Meanwhile, Scopa has welcomed community social responsibility plans presented by Samanco, Lonmin and Pandora mining companies for the Bapo ba Mogale community.

For more http://www.thenewage.co.za