DA welcomes overdue suspension of Sport, Arts & Culture HOD

18 September 2020

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English & Afrikaans from Ofentse Mokae, MPL. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape welcomes the long-awaited suspension of the shady Head of Department for Sport, Arts and Culture, Ruth Palm.

The DA has been lobbying for Palm’s suspension since allegations of maladministration began to shadow the department in February this year. This, after a report by the Office of the Public Protector report found Palm guilty of approving a payment of R1 million to the Traffic Events company in 2016, for one of a series of three events that never took place in 2017. Earlier this month, a further incident relating to the mismanagement of public funds under her watch also made headlines.

These are not the first concerning claims made against Palm in her capacity as a senior departmental official. In 2012 Palm was implicated in a case that involved defrauding the Department of Roads and Public Works of more than R47 million.

While the DA is relieved that Palm’s powers to defraud the state have finally been ended, we are still concerned that it took the department so long to respond to the investigation report and allegations levelled against her. We can only hope that more funds did not manage to leak from the department’s coffers during this time lapse.

Palm has to answer to all the allegations levelled against her, and the DA will stop at nothing to ensure that the public funds involved are accounted for, as the public deserves to know the truth.

Issued by Ofentse Mokae, DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Sport, Arts & Culture, 18 September 2020