This has since prompted the DA to call on the MEC for Transport, Sello Lehari, to take action on the adverse findings of the 2013 forensic report into the state-owned entity, North West Transport Investments (NTI). The report deals with, amongst others, the alleged irregular purchase of 95 second-hand buses for R140 million. The DA’s Freddy Sonakile says the Mochabapula Consulting Services conducted a forensic investigation in 2013 and further uncovered that an aircraft valued at R9 million, along with its hanger valued at R1.7 million, was sold at a loss of R4.2 million. Sonakile says that the NTI needs R264 million to settle accumulated current liabilities, a further R20 million per month to sustain current services while more than 300 buses of the NTI’s fleet are currently broken down. The department is yet to comment.

He says during the tabling of the NTI’s Annual Performance Plan (APP) for the 2019/20 financial year on Thursday 18 July 2019, it came to light that the state-owned entity’s cash flow constraints have reached critical status. Sonakile says the damning evidence into the NTI, which implicates some of the senior officials, their spouses and board members, should be enough for Lehari to take decisive action against those implicated in the forensic report.

He also says the MEC should consider closing the NTI down at once because it cannot generate enough revenue to sustain itself. Sonakile says the NTI currently does not have a properly constituted executive board, while the CFO position remains vacant and alleges that the entity is further riddled with several critical senior management positions that remain unfilled.

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