GPAA's forensic probe sparks concerns of a witch hunt against whistleblowers

Government Pensions Administration Agency says it will conduct a forensic investigation over source of leaked documents

- SIPHELELE DLUDLA

THE Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) has confirmed it will conduct a forensic investigation to uncover the source of leaked internal documents, a move that has ignited fierce criticism from employee representatives who deem it a “witch hunt against whistleblowers.”

The embattled agency has been rocked by allegations of serious financial mismanagement of pension funds amounting to more than R500 million after an audit being prepared for the financial year-end flagged administration issues.

The GPAA has written to the chairperson of the price quotation committee seeking approval to appoint Nexus Forensics to conduct an investigation on the allegations of unethical conduct of the removal of confidential information without authorization.

This comes after Business Report's initial story in June about the preliminary internal audit report compiled by Abacwaningi Business Solution (ABS) Audit & Advisory Services, which found a raft of key governance concerns and financial mismanagement in a number of contracts worth millions of rand.

The GPAA is a government component that reports to the Minister of Finance and administers the pension affairs of approximately 1.7 million government employees and pensioners, as well as the affairs of their spouses and dependants.

According to the GPAA, Nexus will be tasked with investigating how internal documents of the GPAA ended up in the hands of the Public Service and Commercial Union (PSCU) secretary-general Tahir Maepa, as well as Business Report and its journalist, Siphelele Dludla.

“The key deliverables expected from this investigation will be to: