Johannesburg - The Vrede Estina Dairy Farm and Giyani Water projects have come under the spotlight again after Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane made adverse findings against various officials and senior political leaders involved in the projects.
This comes as Mkhwebane, in the Estina project, investigated maladministration and political interference.
Presenting her report in Pretoria on Monday, she firmly stated that evidence presented by former Free State Premier and ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule as well as former Agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane was inconclusive.
According to Mkhwebane, in October 2018 she interviewed Magashule over his involvement in the planning and implementation of the project but he denied this, adding that the project had been presented to exco and that it had adopted it.
"Evidence uncovered by my investigation team indicated that there was political interference in the project...The Vrede Project could not have been left solely to the accounting officers.“
Mkhwebane added that in relation to the funds involved in the project she had found that: "The Free State provincial department collectively failed to perform adequate oversight on the project when it made additional funding to the project. The relevant MECs in their individual capacities failed to perform oversight on the project and prioritise and protect the welfare of the beneficiaries."
She said it was unfortunate that beneficiaries were “sold an empty dream”.
In the Giyani Water Project, Mkhwebane further highlighted that her investigations into the partnership between the Lepelle Water Board and LET Consulting showed that officials involved were found wanting.
This comes after it was found that the tender amounts were inflated.
She said that the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation has 90 days to appoint engineers to advise on the work done by previous officials and for the Water Board to take disciplinary action against officials and for the board to collaborate with National Treasury to carry out forensic investigations and recover funds which were lost in the irregular awarding of the Mopani/Giyani Water project.
During her address, Mkhwebane also delved into the investigations she had conducted in relation to allegations of maladministration at the City of Joburg (CoJ) municipality.
According to Mkhwebane, the complaint was lodged with her office in March 2018 by an anonymous person.
Mkhwebane found that under former mayor Herman Mashaba, the City had, among other things, improperly and irregularly appointed David Tembe as the Chief of the Johannesburg Metro Police (JMPD) without following due processes after it was established that Tembe had been awarded with a Traffic Officer’s diploma in line with RTMC Policy Document and SAPS Conversion modules while no class attendance register could be provided to Mkhwebane or to RTMC as proof of Tembe’s actual attendance at the lessons.
Furthermore, Mkhwebane cited Mashaba over allegations that he unlawfully and irregularly solicited free services from Lephatsi Financial Services (LFS) and that in 2017, he contacted a friend and a former business partner or associate from LFS namely Mr Deshmukh Akhter Alli (Mr Deshmukh) and requested his assistance to advise CoJ on the financial modelling for insourcing of security personnel.
But Mashaba hit back on Monday and dared the public protector to meet him in court.
"The release of the Public Protector’s report in relation to my tenure as the mayor is disappointing. I won't comment. My focus now will be a high court legal review of the report and I will seek a cost order against the Public Protector. I will see you in court @PublicProtector," he wrote on Twitter.
He added that he had nothing to fear.
Political Bureau