Could this be payback time for Mbeki's friends?

You may have heard that SAA is trying to recoup some monies that its former CEO, Mr. Khaya Ngqula misused while CEO of the company. The monies claimed, which amounts to R30, 8 - million is made out of the following;

• An unauthorised bonuses for executives worth R27-million;
• R3,3-million that Ngqula had allegedly spent on hiring hospitality suites in various sports stadiums; and
• At least R500 000 for free trips that Ngqula had allegedly granted to personal friends.

This is after he was given a golden handshake of R9,35-million to terminate his contract by the board which was led by Mr. Jakes Gerwel, just after an investigation on his wrong doing barely started. The handshake, which was awarded to Mr. Ngqula under the watchful eye of the former Public Enterprises Minister Brigitte Mabandla was not welcomed by cabinet spokesperson Mr. Themba Maseko who indicated that the "Government preference was that the CEO should have remained on leave while the allegations were being investigated", something which the government has failed on doing properly.

You may be asking yourself if whether Mr. Themba Maseko and Mrs. Brigitte Mabandla worked for two separate governments...no they did not. Their failure to consult each other could then be related to the fights between the former president, Mr. Thabo Mbeki and our current president Mr. Jacob Zuma and the perceptions that Mr. Khaya Ngqula was aligned to Mr. Mbeki.

Mr. Khaya Ngqula's other sin was that of conflict of interest, something which continues under Mr. Zuma's current government. In February last year, The Sunday Times reported that Servair, a consortium co-owned by Mr. Vusi Sithole, a business partner of Mr. Ngqula and his wife, Mrs. Mbali Gasi, was the preferred bidder to supply about 180 000 weekly in-flight meals on SAA's domestic routes.

So could this be a payback time? Because if the ANC (I say the ANC because they control the government which controls who seats in the SAA board) is really concerned about the monies that Mr. Ngqula squandered, they will also try to recover monies from other parastatals heads who wasted taxpayer's monies. In addition, any claim or allegations that ministers or politicians are having conflict of interest the running of government departments or any institutions that is funded by government monies will be investigated.

Anyway, one welcomes the fact that finally where monies that belongs to the public are not used with care those responsible are made to pay back. But whether the monies will be paid remains to be seen.