Johannesburg — THERE would be no forensic audit conducted into Gauteng's contract with CNBC Africa - which was cancelled in January - despite at least R40m of taxpayers' money being paid to the organisation, economic development MEC Firoz Cachalia said in reply to questions in the legislature yesterday.

The deal was one of several contracts cancelled by the province in a move to "prioritise" its services. The five-year deal was signed by the Gauteng Film Commission on behalf of the province during Paul Mashatile 's reign as MEC of economic development and was paid for out of the commission's already limited budget.

The matter came to public attention after the South African Screen Federation (Sasfed) asked why money set aside for the development of the local film industry was being used to fund a company that did not promote local content.

In a written reply yesterday to the question of whether a forensic audit would be conducted, Mr Cachalia said he believed the cancellation of the contract, at no cost to the province, was the end of the matter. "When I came to office in 2009, and as part of the review of all the Gauteng provincial government contracts, I sought legal opinion, which concluded the contract was unenforceable. I therefore took steps to ensure the contract was cancelled."

Democratic Alliance MPL Gavin Lewis said: "This sort of response has become a regular refrain from the provincial government: evasiveness following up on some dubious contracts of Mr Mashatile's era, from Formula One to some Blue IQ initiatives. Key answers are evaded. Why was the contract so badly drawn up as to be unenforceable? Why is the person responsible for signing it not held accountable? Who is scared of a forensic audit ...?"

In April, Mr Cachalia said the deal was that CNBC Africa would receive about R22,8m a year in return for investing R170m in the province and carrying advertising slots about Gauteng to market the province locally and internationally. CNBC Africa refused to comment at the time, saying it had not received favourable treatment by the media.

The MD of Avusa's business TV channel, Summit, Vernon Matzopoulos, said: "The honourable thing would be for CNBC Africa to pay back the money and distance itself from this scandal, which must be weighing heavily on its editorial integrity." Failing that, he said, Mr Cachalia should pursue the claim in court, since he had acknowledged the contract contravened regulations.

Marc Schwinges said on behalf of Sasfed: "Ideally, we would like to see the money returned to the commission and distributed to the local film industry, which has been through a tough time of late."