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Central Transvaal’s head of social development resigns amid corruption allegations-Andre Smit
Matilda Gasela, head of the Central Transvaal Department of Social Development, was appointed despite corruption allegations and now leaves the department facing new allegations. File photo: Ihsaan Haffejee
The contract of Matilda Gasela, head of the Gauteng Department of Social Development, has come to an end.
Gasela was transferred from the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform, despite an SIU investigation recommending her criminal prosecution.
Gasela is facing fresh allegations of irregularities in the R250 million tender while at Gauteng Social Development.
While at the department, Gasela led several forensic audits.
Matilda Gasela, head of the Gauteng Department of Social Development, has left office under a cloud of corruption allegations dating back to her tenure as head of the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
Gasela was transferred from this department to head of the province’s department of social development in July 2023, despite allegations of fraud and a damning investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
Gauteng MEC for Social Development, Mbali Hlophe, is also the MEC for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. Appointments of heads of department are made by Panyaza Lesufi, Premier of Gauteng.
Lesufi, in response to a question from Refiloe Nt’sekhe of the Democratic Alliance told the provincial legislature on April 16 that he had seen the SIU report and that Gasela was facing a disciplinary process.
“We’re studying that report,” he said.
Nt’sekhe told Lesufi that he intended to refer the matter to the Public Service Commission. “I may be late,” Lesufi replied, “because this individual’s (Gasela’s) contract ends at the end of April 2024.”
Lesufi promised to share the SIU report with Nt’sekhe. But Nt’sekhe told GroundUp that didn’t happen. Lesufi did not respond to GroundUp’s questions at the time of publication. Will be added if received.
TimesLIVE reported in February 2023 that the SIU recommended that Gasela be criminally prosecuted. The 2022 SIU report found that Gasela was “possibly guilty of fraud” and violated the Public Finance Management Act in a contract awarded to Enviro Mobi, TimesLive said.
Before joining the agriculture department, Gasela was head of Human Settlements in Gauteng, where she was the subject of a forensic investigation into an irregular R85,5 million contract. The investigation recommended that disciplinary action be taken against her, according to TimesLive.
Gasela’s contract with the agriculture department was supposed to end in December 2022, but Lesufi’s then spokesperson, Vuyo Mhaga, told TimesLive that the contract had been extended by six months to allow the prime minister to form a panel that would allow Gasela to respond to the accusations.
But Gasela was later transferred to Social Development, a department that faces multiple crises. She was appointed head of department.
Gasela was also the subject of new allegations during his time at Social Development about tender irregularities related to his food parcel and dignity parcel programmes. Gauteng Finance Minister Jacob Mamabolo confirmed to eNCA that tenders to the value of R250 million were being investigated, for which Gasela would be held accountable.
GroundUp has not yet been able to independently verify the allegations, but several department sources confirmed to GroundUp that they were “accurate.”
Ongoing forensic audits of the department’s non-profit funding led to the suspension of 13 top officials, but very few details were released about the reasons for the suspensions.
One of the auditors hired to investigate grants to nonprofit organizations is Vernon Naidoo, a former senior partner at Grant Thornton who left the firm after being accused of sexual harassment.
GroundUp witnessed a leaked letter signed by Gasela sent to senior management in September 2023, announcing that Naidoo’s company, FSG Africa, had been appointed to “carry out the forensic audit of NPOs”. Gasela did not respond to our questions about Naidoo’s appointment. We contacted Naidoo for comment, who denied any knowledge of the allegations.
The Department of Social Development has also appointed an independent audit firm to investigate the department’s school uniform programme.
A source in the department told GroundUp last week that Gasela had created a climate of fear within the department.
“It has reached a point where people are very afraid to make decisions without their approval. ” She controls all the programs,” the source said.
“Matilda approves of everything. Decisions are made without proper staff involvement and she is simply told what to do.”
GroundUp has a leaked internal memo, signed by Gasela in December 2023, directing officials to refer contractual agreements to her as department head. It was previously delegated to senior officials.
In recent months, cuts to the social development budget to fund non-profits have been exacerbated by delays in allocation processes, leading to the closure of several organisations that provide services to children, women and people with disabilities.
The department’s 2024/25 budget for non-profit organisations is R223 million less than in 2023/24. The department spent R2,1 billion on subsidies to non-profit organisations in 2023.
The multimillion-rand grant panels put together to assess organisations’ funding applications remain a mystery. In the past, organisations knew before the end of the financial year what the outcome of their funding applications was. But this year, many organizations still don’t know if they will receive funding, even though the new financial year began on April 1.
The department’s massive Nasi iSpani Youth Service Programme, one of Lesufi’s flagship projects, also faced setbacks. News24 recently reported that 300 young people employed by the department have not received their salaries since they started working in February.
Gasela did not respond to GroundUp’s questions, but confirmed that his contract expired on April 30.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development did not respond to GroundUp’s questions and referred us to the Premier’s office.
The Premier’s spokesman did not respond at the time of this publication.
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