The Premier of the Free State, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae says disciplinary action will be taken following SIU findings into irregular bursary allocations, stressing accountability and consequences for officials implicated in maladministration.
The Premier of the Free State, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae, has welcomed the findings by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into irregularities in the provincial government’s bursary programme, saying disciplinary steps will be taken against all those implicated.
The SIU investigation, conducted under Proclamation 123 of 2023, focused on bursary allocations within the Office of the Premier for the 2017/2018 financial year.
The probe follows concerns previously raised by the Auditor-General of South Africa in its 2019 and 2020 reports.
It found that irregular expenditure included travel costs, stipends, and accommodation payments, as well as payments made to ineligible recipients, including foreign nationals and deceased individuals, with millions of rand also left unaccounted for in university accounts.
