Pretoria - Following his suspension in September, Phillip Gumede, the Chief Financial Officer in the North West Office of the Premier, has been charged with gross misconduct.
He was suspended by Premier Maureen Modiselle with full benefits to enable an independent firm of auditors, Gobala Dinawa, to investigate alleged breaches of government procurement protocols in Modiselle's office, according to a statement by the provincial government.
Gumede was alleged to be involved in authorising irregular and wasteful expenditure in the Office of the Premier dating back to May 2009. It is estimated the amounts involved could be hundreds of thousands of rands or possibly millions of rands.
At the time of his suspension, Modiselle said there was "a flagrant disregard for procurement prescripts, protocols and Treasury Regulations."
Preliminary findings in the report by auditors fingered him as an alleged prime culprit among several other suspects.
Gumede, who had been a CFO for more than a decade in the Office of the Premier, is now to appear before an independent disciplinary enquiry on Friday where he will have to answer to eight misconduct charges.
The Chief Financial Officer for Public Works, Roads and Transport, Kwekwu Odame-Takyi was recently found guilty of gross misconduct.
