The Government has reinstated Armando Vasco Lionjanga back to his substantive post as the Executive Director of the Public Procurement and Assert Disposal Board (PPADB).
This has been confirmed by Assistant minister of Finance and Development Planning, Keletso Rakhudu.
“I can confirm that he has been reinstated to his post and will resume work on the 1st of October,” said Rakhudu in an interview with Sunday Standard.
He said that Lionjanga, who has been out on leave since last year, was resuming work not on a new contract but as part of his earlier contract.
The ministry had indicated that it would only reinstate Lionjanga once it got assurance that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) would not appeal the case following the High Court ruling in favour of Lionjanga.
Information reaching this paper is that government intends to Appeal Lionjanga’s decision.
It is understood that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has written a letter to the ministry requesting that Lionjanga’s reinstatement be stayed temporarily until an Appeal is finished.
In January this year, Lionjanga was convicted on one count of corruption by the Village magistrate court. He, however, appealed the decision and his conviction and sentence was later overturned by Judge Laikhvinder Walia.
He was sentenced to a three-year jail term, wholly suspended for two years for participating in a number of PPADB meetings that assessed a tender bid by Eastgate Enterprises in which his sister, Alice Makgekgenene, and nephew, Kagiso Makgekgenene, were directors.
Lionjanga will take over from Mosimolodi Lefhoko has been the acting chief executive for some time.
