Pali Lehohla warns graft scandal ‘may hobble state projects’
Statistician-General Pali Lehohla warns of SA’s tarnished image
The scandal caused by leaked e-mails purporting to lay bare the manipulation of state-owned enterprises by the Guptas could harm government investment in infrastructure development, says Statistician-General Pali Lehohla. Releasing Statistics SA’s capital figures on expenditure by the public sector for the year 2016 on Wednesday, Lehohla said the continuing scandals related to parastatals that had questionable business transactions could create "a negative image". Statistics SA could only look at the spending by entities in its totality and not make judgment calls on its propriety. "Unfortunately we did not look at the leaks in the process but what was said to have been spent on what. We also show where the spending is at, including the [Passenger Rail Agency of SA] rail carriages." Lehohla said the issues raised might not be answered by his office but by the auditor-general. "It is definitely not a good image," he said. Public perceptions of the government’s business transactions s...
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