Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has welcomed a court decision granted in favour of the Cooperative Governance Department in its quest to recover funds that were erroneously transferred to the Greater Sekhukhune Region Cooperative Ltd.
In July and August this year, the department erroneously transferred a total of R183 450 000 to the Greater Sekhukhune Region Cooperative Ltd instead of the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality.
When the error was discovered, the department engaged the cooperative and the transferring banks to reverse the payments. However, a total of R102 990 638.19 has still not been returned.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has granted an interim order in favour of the department, which interdicts the GreaterSekhukhune Region Cooperative from dispensing the money they hold in different accounts.
Mkhize has instructed Cooperative Governance Director-General to launch an investigation into how the error occurred and institute the necessary corrective actions.
This was not the first time that the same error occurred. In August, the department paid Mahikeng Municipality double its share of R60 million and struggled to recover the money.
The failure by the Greater Sekhukhune Region Cooperative to pay back the money has resulted in the department launching an urgent interdict to recover the money.
The Minister said he was happy that the court has ruled in favour of the department in this matter.
“Importantly going forward, this means that we need to increase capacity and ensure that such mistakes do not recur. I have instructed the DG to launch the necessary investigation and explore ways to improve our payment systems and also to ensure that action is taken against anyone responsible for wrongdoing. This is totally unacceptable,” Mkhize said.