—Putting 18 000 Basotho at risk of not getting paid
‘Mathatisi Sebusi
A TOTAL of 18,000 Basotho who worked on community development projects under the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) are at risk of not being paid, parliament has heard.
This is due to the DMA struggling to recover M900,000 that was mistakenly overpaid to other beneficiaries on similar projects late last month.
DMA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Reatile Ellias, revealed the details during a meeting with the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on the Prime Minister’s Ministries and Departments, Governance, Foreign Relations and Information Cluster on Monday.
The committee had summoned the DMA to explain how the department ended up paying M2.75 million to the wrong recipients instead of the intended M275,000.
Mr Ellias explained that the mistake occurred due to a clerical error made by DMA’s financial officers.
Instead of paying M500 to each of the 550 Basotho who worked on the poverty alleviation projects, the officers mistakenly paid M5,000 per individual.
The payment was processed through the Mpesa merchant system, and two finance officers were responsible for managing the accounts.
The officer who initiated the payment mistakenly added an extra zero, resulting in the M5,000 payments instead of M500. The second officer, who was responsible for verifying and approving the payment, failed to spot the error.
To date, the DMA has been able to recover M1, 850 000. They were able to recoup M1.6 million with the help of Vodacom, while the other M250,000 has been voluntarily returned by the recipients of the erroneous M5 000 payments.
However, M900,000 remains unrecovered, and the DMA is working to retrieve the remaining funds.
Mr Ellias warned that if the M900 000 was not recovered, the DMA might struggle to pay 18,000 other Basotho who had worked on other poverty alleviation projects and were now expecting to be compensated for the work they had done.
The portfolio oommittee expressed anger over the situation, with some members doubting that this was a mere mistake, especially since two finance officers were involved in the payment process.
The committee’s chairperson, Moshe Makotoko, said it was difficult to believe that such a significant error could be missed by two officers who handled payments regularly.
“This makes no sense,” Mr Makotoko fumed.
”There is no mistake – one officer initiated a payment of M5 000 instead of M500 per person, and the verifying officer failed to check the figures. What exactly was she looking for? Her responsibility is to ensure the payment amounts are correct.”
Committee member, Maboiketlo Maliehe, strongly criticized Mr Ellias, stating that he was “unfit to serve” as DMA’s CEO and that the department needed a more competent leader.
“DMA’s actions are reflecting poorly on the minister (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office),” she said.
“You know me, I don’t mince words – I believe you are not the right person for this position. Many mistakes have occurred under your leadership.”
Meanwhile, Sehlomeng Makhabane, one of the finance officers who approved the erroneous M2.7 million payment instead of the correct M275 000, told the committee it was a pure error.
She explained that while the paperwork was accurate and properly signed, she was unaware the Excel spreadsheet reflected a higher amount due to an extra zero.
Ms Makhabane noted that payments were typically processed in smaller batches, and they had never handled such a large single transaction before, leading her to believe the amounts matched.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Limpho Tau, said Vodacom had agreed to help recover the rest of the funds, provided the recipients had not already withdrawn the money.
Mr Tau acknowledged the challenge would be in cases where recipients had already withdrawn the funds or had Mpesa advances. However, he emphasized that those responsible for the transaction, “……whether it was a mistake or not, must be held accountable”.
At the end of the meeting, the committee recommended that the DMA appoint an independent external investigator to examine the matter objectively, without any “emotional bias”.
