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The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) determined that the R40 million tender for the border fence was awarded irregularly and recommended that 14 officials be punished.
FILE: The Honorable Patricia De Lille, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, in Parliament on July 10, 2019. Image: @ DepPublicWorks / Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille said on Tuesday that she would not flee investigations implicating her in the Beitbridge border fence scandal.
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) determined that the R40 million tender for the border fence was awarded irregularly and recommended that 14 officials be punished.
Parliamentary committees for Public Works, Internal Affairs and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) joined SIU on a site visit over the weekend.
The committee found that the money spent on the fence amounted to a waste.
De Lille said the ongoing investigation must be respected.
“I am willing to cooperate with any investigation, that is exactly what I am doing. He had already requested the Auditor General on April 28 to launch an investigation. On April 25, I ordered our own anti-corruption unit and the SIU to investigate, ”he said.
SIU spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said De Lille had not been exonerated.
“We discovered that she was the one who wrote the letter in which she instructed some of the officials to promptly pursue this matter and that part of the investigation is being handled by the Treasury because it is that instruction that was given.”
Parliamentary committees said that the prescriptive nature of the De Lille directive remained a concern and the committees were awaiting an extensive report.
Additional reporting by Babalo Ndenze.
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