Cape Town - The government still spends millions of rands on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Commission, according to a government annual report, despite the 2020 expiry of its mandate.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed to the Cape Argus that the commission’s mandate ended in 2020, but the Communications and Digital Technologies (CDT) annual report shows the department paid R16.4 million for the commission in 2020/21 and R5.7m in 2021/22.
Titled “Presidential Commission 4IR”, the reference to the commission in the annual report doesn’t explain what or who the money was spent on.
DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard said she would be writing to department Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to detail the expenditure on the commission.
“Why are we still spending on the commission when it is no longer in place?” Kohler-Barnard asked.
She said the department delivered annual reports a day before a recent briefing, whereas MPs usually receive these weeks ahead.
CDT spokesperson Tlangelani Manganyi confirmed the commission completed its work in 2020, but did not respond to a request for an explanation on the 2021/22 figures, which show the commission had an adjusted appropriation of R9.5m for the 4IR commission in the period under review.
The annual report also shows that the department paid two contractors for a 4IR-related project between April 2021 and March 22 for 90 days of work, forking out R1.2m.
Manganyi did not respond to a question about who the contractors were.
The commission fell under the department’s ICT policy development and research programme.
One of the 4IR report’s contributors was Professor Christiaan Adendorff, who parted ways with the Nelson Mandela University in 2020 as adjunct professor after he allegedly plagiarised US and Namibian international documents and pasted the text verbatim in 2017 as two Eastern Cape municipalities’ policy documents, for which he was paid R2.2m.
Ramaphosa’s office responded for the first time to the plagiarism scandal, which Adendorff defended as “standard practice”.
Magwenya told the Cape Argus that Adendorff, who chaired the commission’s work stream on capital markets and financing, was vetted before his appointment and “there were no adverse findings against” him. The professor allegedly plagiarised before his appointment to the commission.
Manganyi said: “The lifespan of the PC4IR came to an end with the approval by Cabinet of its report on 23 September 2020, and subsequent gazetting thereof on 23 October 2020.
“Commissioners in the PC4IR were rendering voluntary services and were only given gratuity fee and tools of trade. The plagiarism allegations were noted in the media after the commission had concluded its work.”
She was again asked to explain the figures on Wednesday, but at time of writing yesterday had not responded.
Approached, Adendorff said he had not been paid from the commission’s work since 2020.
A foreword by department head Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani in the annual report, touching on the 4IR, indicates though a 4IR project management office was established, the department is yet to establish the recommended institute.