DA’s aero village allegations ‘baseless’
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has hit back at the Democratic Alliance over the controversial Centurion Aerospace Village.
|||Johannesburg - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has hit back at the Democratic Alliance over the controversial Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV).
In a strongly-worded statement released late on Thursday, the government department says the official opposition has made “inaccurate allegations” around a forensic report into the village.
On Thursday, the DA unveiled a forensic probe into the village, which had uncovered widespread irregular spending, including on porn sites, conflicts of interest and breaches of the law meant to ensure taxpayers’ money is properly spent.
The report, compiled by Nexus Forensic Services - dated last June and in IOL’s possession - notes taxpayers’ money was used by a Village official to browse a porn site - www.esa.co.za in addition to other irregularities.
Although Centurion Aerospace Village does not fall under the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA), it had contractually agreed with its parent body, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to be held to its standards as to how government money should be spent. As a result, any breaches of that law are illegal, explains Nexus.
The Centurion Aerospace Village forms part of the Department of Trade and Industry's Aerospace Industry Support Initiative, which seeks to upgrade and reposition the South African aerospace industry in the growing global aerospace market. It is situated on state land adjacent to Aerosud and Air Force Base Waterkloof in Pierre van Ryneveld and is one of several initiatives, including the National Aerospace Centre of Excellence, developed to create globally competitive aerospace clusters.
However, Democratic Alliance’s shadow deputy minister of Economic Development, Patrick Atkinson said all that existed seven years after the official unveiling was “a vacant plot of barren land characterised only by a few piles of sand and enclosed by a rusted barbed wire fence”. He noted the project was “yet another example of job-killing corruption”.
The DA’s remarks have been disputed by the DTI, which calls its claims “baseless” and “inaccurate”.
Minister Rob Davies notes “the Department of Trade and Industry is fully committed towards the development of the CAV into a leading supplier park in the aerospace and defence, manufacturing and services sector”.
‘It is important that in exercising their important constitutional oversight functions, opposition parties avoid the temptation to behave recklessly with freely available facts. As the executive and accounting authorities we are also required to respect the legal and constitutional rights of individuals that may be cited in audit investigations, as was the case in this instance.”
The department says the “CAV is fully operational. At present there is one tenant, a company which is a global supplier of aircraft components. The company concerned was awarded a tender to supply Airbus in an open international tender, requiring globally competitive capabilities”.
It adds: “The CAV is well-placed to attract further tenants in the aerospace and defence manufacturing and related services sector.”
In addition, the DTI argues it “immediately” instigated an internal audit in 2012 when it became aware of irregularities, and followed that up with a forensic audit.
From those probes, it initiated disciplinary action against staff, which included firing a director, and laying criminal charges to recover funds.
The report, which probed the village’s actions all the way back to 2007, found irregular spending of at least R85 million, R642 698 being withdrawn from two accounts without being accounted for and that there were no approvals from the board, management or executive committee for the appointment of five service providers, which collectively earned R85 million.
In addition, the department says it has taken more disciplinary action, and has rescinded contracts, and is implementing better oversight controls.
IOL