THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT APPEARS IN COURT ON CHARGES OF CONTRAVENTION OF THE PENSION FUNDS ACT
Dr Johnny Mackay, Head of the Department(HOD) of Public Works in the Northern Cape, has appeared in the Upington Magistrate Court after he was arrested this morning by the Hawks in Upington. The charges against the accused stem from his previous employment, where he was the Municipal Manager of the Kai Garib Municipality, in the Northern Cape. It is alleged that the accused, as the Accounting Officer of the Municipality and as the official responsible for the overall financial affairs of the institution, unlawfully, failed to pay in full the consolidated Retirement Fund for Local Government namely: any contribution which, in terms of the rules of the fund, were deducted from employees remuneration and any contribution for which the employer was liable in terms of the rules of the fund.
Mackay is currently arraigned on 271 counts of contravening section 37(1)(a) of the Pension Funds Act 24 of 1956. In terms of section 13A should a person be convicted of the offence; such accused can be sentenced to a fine not exceeding 10 million rands or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years or to both, such a fine or such imprisonment.
The accused is out on bail of R5000, and the matter was postponed to 25 November 2022.
