Democratic Alliance MP and shadow communications minister Marian Shinn has reiterated her call for the public protector to investigate allegations surrounding the ICT Indaba held earlier this year and alleged conflicts of interest involving communications minister Dina Pule.

This followed a newspaper report on Sunday that linked Pule to millions of rand allegedly missing from the funds awarded by Telkom, MTN and Vodacom to the indaba, held in June. The three telecommunications operators together donated R25,7m towards the event, with a further R10m coming from the department of communications.

“Yet more revelations of alleged misspending of ICT Indaba sponsors’ money have surfaced today. In light of these revelations, the public protector should urgently consider investigating the conflict of interest of … Pule as I requested six weeks ago,” Shinn says in a statement.

“The public protector promised to respond to me by the end of July and has not yet done so. I will write to her tomorrow requesting her to inform me of her decision.”

Shinn says a report in the Sunday Times that indaba project management firm Carol Bouwer Productions “has an invoice to prove that the expensive designer shoes the minister wore to the event were paid for with sponsors’ contributions is alarming”.

“These allegations add to the growing evidence pointing to financial impropriety by Phosane Mngqibisa, the man reputed to be romantically linked to minister Pule.”

Meanwhile, parliament’s ethics and members’ interest committee has instigated a probe into Pule’s potential conflict of interest in the matter, Shinn says. “It is expected that a date for a hearing will be announced soon.” — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media