Mdladlana: Release incriminating report

Cape Town - Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has challenged KPMG to release the supposed audit report audit report which allegedly unearthed massive fraud and corruption at his department.
  
"The report which surfaced at the weekend is persistently in the midst of the raging storm over the suspension of the director general of labour, Jimmy Manyi," he said on Tuesday.
  
This was despite Mdladlana's response that it was sheer speculation.
  
Mdladlana was adamant he had no knowledge of such an audit report being commissioned by his department.
  
"I have never discussed such a report with my director general," he said.
  
He therefore appealed to KPMG to release the report which was claimed to implicate senior officials of his department.
  
Mdladlana reiterated his caution that it was incorrect for anyone to come up with unwarranted speculation and blatant lies related to Manyi's suspension.
  
On Sunday, Mdladlana said newspaper reports following Manyi's suspension were mischievous.
  
Mdladlana was responding to a report in the Sunday Times that attributed Manyi's suspension to a KPMG forensic audit report that "unearthed massive fraud and corruption" in the department.
  
"Again, this is a classic example of statements that are devoid of any shred of truth which add deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
 
"It is totally incorrect for anyone to come up with unwarranted speculation and blatant lies related to the suspension," he said.
  
Manyi made headlines recently when Norway's ambassador to South Africa requested a meeting with Mdladlana to raise concerns about his conduct during an official meeting.
  
"There were certain things discussed and the way in which they were brought up in that meeting, we did not appreciate," Ambassador Tor Christian-Hilda told Sapa last Thursday.
  
Christian-Hilda and two other senior diplomats from the Norwegian mission met Manyi in Pretoria in early March to discuss Norway's cooperation with South Africa's Decent Work programme through the International Labour Organisation.
  
He said black economic empowerment policies were discussed at the meeting, but declined to elaborate further on his reasons for sending a diplomatic note to International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, from where the matter was passed on to Mdladlana.

- Sapa