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Johannesburg - Jimmy Manyi, director-general of government's labour department, was dealt a sharp rap on the knuckles this week for inflating his department's budget requirements, newspaper Business Report said on Thursday.
According to the paper, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana claimed to have been "embarrassed" by Manyi after an e-mail surfaced in which Manyi first requested an extra R1bn for his department, then sought to justify the claim.
This is the first time an ANC minister has publicly rebuked an accounting office of his own department, Business Report said.
Manyi said on March 17 that his department required R1bn in the current financial year to operate professionally and deliver on his mandate.
"When you look at what we have been allocated as against what we need, you realise that we are totally underfunded as a department," Manyi told the portfolio committee on labour at the time.
The e-mail was disclosed by Democratic Alliance MP Ian Ollis, who said that Manyi had requested: "an additional R1bn first and then ordered officials to inflate their own budgets in order to add up the amount".
The e-mail ran: "As you know, I have asked for R1bn from the fiscus as of April 1 2010. However, I sit here with no response.
'An embarrassment'
"I need to have a detailed requirement list by 12:00 on Tuesday (March 23) to send to parliament. The honourable chair [labour portfolio committee chairperson Lumka Yengeni, an ANC MP] is waiting for it."
In the e-mail, Manyi noted the labour market programmes needed R500m to fund the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, the National Economic Development and Labour Council; the Small Enterprise Foundation; and the Public Servants Association.
He said he wished to remind officials that administration needed an extra R300m for "professionals for all the programs [sic] by sector, including the two funds".
According to Business Report, Manyi also said the public employment services needed R100m for information and communication technology and infrastructure, and the inspection of enforcement services needed R100m for "gadgets to measure dust, radioactivity etc, more cars".
"Manyi is truly an embarrassment to a department already mired in incompetence," Ollis is reported to have said.
According to Business Report, Manyi was appointed director-general contrary to the wishes of Mdladlana.
According to Business Report, ministry spokesperson Mzobanzi Jikazana said the matter will be taken up with Manyi on his return from an overseas trip on Monday.
- Fin24.com
