South African Communications Minister Dina Pule has denied claims her decision to grant Sentech control of the set-top box system for digital migration benefitted her alleged boyfriend Phosane Mngqibisa.
A report published in the Sunday Times suggests Pule granted Sentech control of the set-top box system due to the fact that Sentech’s chosen provider of the control system is run by Mngqibisa’s business partner, Rudy Rashama.
The pair jointly own Khemano, the company that won a key contract in the ICT Indaba last year.
The report is the latest in a string of allegations of misallocation of funds or contracts by Pule in order to benefit herself or Mngqibisa, with the most notorious claim being that the pair misappropriated funds intended for the ICT Indaba held in May of last year.
Minister Pule has issued a statement in response to the allegations, denying the claims and accusing the Sunday Times of conducting a “politically motivated smear campaign”.
She insists that the statements made by the Times are “misleading”, and that the report contains inaccurate and untrue information.
According to the Minister, she had no involvement in Sentech’s choice of system provider. However, she does not touch upon whether she had knowledge of Sentech’s choice of provider when making the decision to appoint the state-owned company in place of e.tv, SABC and other free-to-air broadcasters.
Her decision to appoint Sentech has since been overruled by the High Court of South Gauteng, which found that Pule had acted outside of the remit of her position.
