PUBLIC Protector Thuli Madonsela yesterday called on President Jacob Zuma to take action against Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu- Nkabinde for her role in the flawed police buildings lease saga.
And she again blamed police chief Bheki Cele for his role in maladministration in the flawed R1,7bn police building leases.
Ms Madonsela yesterday released a damning final report on the leases, in which she blamed Gen Cele for maladministration for a slew of irregularities in the lease she has found to be invalid.
Her final report puts Mr Zuma at a crossroads, as he has to decide how to respond to the report, after his Cabinet dragged its feet in dealing with its findings into the Pretoria leg of the investigation, which was released in February. The government then nudged Ms Madonsela into completing the Durban leg of the investigation before it responded to her first report which concentrated on the Pretoria lease.
Ms Madonsela said yesterday the pace of the government’s response to the first report was not satisfactory. How Mr Zuma’s government responds to the final report will test the public protector’s power, and show the way his government views the ombudswoman’s authority.
If there was no satisfactory response from the government, Ms Madonsela said she would take the matter to Parliament. Ms Madonsela yesterday stopped short of calling for the dismissal of Ms Mahlangu-Nkabinde, whom she said failed to co-operate with her.
Her department was found to have flouted tender processes in the flawed lease agreement with the politically connected businessman Roux Shabangu’s company, Roux Property Fund.
While she said she would not tell Mr Zuma what to do, she expected him "to do the right thing". On the other hand, Ms Madonsela gave the minister 60 days to explain her actions to the Cabinet.
The minister’s conduct "failed to meet the requisite stewardship expected from her, including the use of public resources" as envisaged by the constitution. Her failure to co- operate with the investigation amounted to improper conduct.
Ms Mahlangu-Nkabinde was appointed in November last year, after Geoff Doidge was removed in Mr Zuma’s Cabinet reshuffle.
When she took up her Cabinet post, questions had already been raised about the police headquarters deal, but her department rammed it through against legal advic e, contrary to Ms Madonsela’s recommendation to suspend it.
Ms Madonsela found two leases — for police office space in Pretoria and Durban — to have been flawed. Like the Pretoria building, the Durban lease was not properly budgeted for and funds were diverted from other projects for it.
The Treasury was not informed of the budget changes.She said the two buildings were identified by Gen Cele before the official processes of tender preparation and needs analysis were done. She said the SAPS was supposed to do a needs assessment before the tender process.
In both cases, leases were negotiated only with Mr Shabangu’s company. The buildings were of poor standards and required "major refurbishment at a significant cost to the state".
The market value of the Durban building — as determined by the Department of Public Works — was R40/m² but the lease signed with Mr Shabangu’s company reflected a rental of R125,30m² .
She said Gen Cele had failed to ensure that the procurement process complied with legal requirements, resulting in the invalid conclusion of a lease agreement to the detriment of the state.
While Gen Cele did not sign the Durban lease agreement, he signed both the initial and revised needs analyses.
She found his conduct to have been in breach of the duties and obligations incumbent upon him as the SAPS accounting officer, in terms of the Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury regulations. " This conduct was improper, unlawful and amounted to maladministration."
She found the public works department to be "reckless" in the way it dealt with public funds.
Ms Madonsela said she would discuss her security detail with Parliament speaker Max Sisulu, as she feared for her life. Last week media reports suggested she was to be arrested on the day she was expected to release her findings.
Source: Business Day
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
