Why would you spend R63m for a four-year office lease when you can pay R53m for a five-year one? That was the key question surrounding the suspension of South African Weather Service (SAWS) CEO Jerry Lengoasa. The SAWS had a special meeting with the parliamentary portfolio committee on environmental affairs on March 20 after it received a tip-off about issues at the weather service. The SAWS said in its official responses to the portfolio committee that the lease for the head office in Pretoria expired on April 30. On November 2‚ the SAWS board gave their landlord the sufficient six-month termination notice of their lease. The SAWS then put out a tender for new office space within a 20km radius of its head office‚ which the board approved and Lengoasa was responsible for signing off. SAWS board member David Lefutso told the portfolio committee on March 20 that Lengoasa had signed a four-year lease for R63m‚ while the SAWS had only made R53m available on the tender for five years. Th...

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