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While Mosebenzi Zwane was MEC, the Free State human settlements department spent at least R631 million on a housing project that did not deliver houses. You illegally paid suppliers for the materials and illegally signed contracts without submitting a bid. Zwane allegedly pushed for the deal, but has continued to deny wrongdoing.
Mosebenzi Zwane has continued to deny any wrongdoing regarding Free State housing contracts while he was a human settlements MEC when he appeared in the State Capture investigation on Friday.
Zwane is implicated in the 2010 decision by the provincial department to prepay service providers for housing projects without tendering. The query has Heard that at least R631 million was spent on prepayments with nothing to show.
The former MEC denied having threatened to fire officials who did not support the project. He allegedly told his then head of department (HOD), Mpho Mokoena, who said he raised questions about the deals, to resign, and that he would end up poor if he did not approve the project.
“There was no such comment from me,” Zwane said.
He claimed there was evidence that he was not a “monster” towards his HOD, as he did not take action against Mokoena when she was fired in December 2010 despite Zwane’s instructions for officials to work during the holiday season.
“I deny that it is the truth and the only truth, President, because if you were so afraid of me you would have listened to me even when I told you that you should not go on vacation. It’s on record that he went on vacation, ”Zwane said.
He also denied having presented officials with the list of 106 favored service providers and later instructed the department to speed up payments to selected companies, some of which have been linked to then-Prime Minister Ace Magashule.
Employees of the Free State human settlements department at the time have testified that Zwane hatched the scheme to illegally pay vendors in October and November 2010, but Zwane continued distance yourself from the project and blame your subordinates.
“He had not knowingly committed any crime. I have not rejected any proposal as MEC by then that my team has brought me, “he said.
“From where I am sitting, I have done everything in my power to ensure that any wrongdoing is eliminated and there is evidence. He would not have knowingly participated in any crime. “
The chairman of the investigation, Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo, questioned Zwane about his understanding of the law.
Zwane, who became the national minister of mineral resources and has been implicated in alleged corruption related to the Estina Dairy project and Tegeta’s acquisition of Optimum Coal, claimed that department officials told him it was legal to cede business to the suppliers in the department’s database, ignoring standard public procurement processes.
Zondo asked for clarity on Zwane’s discussions with department officials: “After talking to them about this database or listing phenomenon, he understood that once companies or entities have been included in the database, or in the list: one, that would be for five years; And, two, wouldn’t there be an open bidding process for every project that might emerge within five years? “
Zwane said that is what he believed, that his department could pay millions to suppliers simply because they were on a list.
Procurement regulations provide for emergency procurement and the signing of contracts without bidding below a certain value, but the department’s program flagrantly violated the law.
Zwane was also questioned about a meeting he is said to have attended in February 2011, where then-minister for human settlements Tokyo Sexwale told him to stop illegal prepayments to providers.
He said he could not remember that meeting and in the same month he was transferred to another position within the government of the Free State. The illegal payments continued after that meeting.
“In hindsight, you have to admit that the management of the whole process had loopholes in terms of internal controls, risk mitigation and things like that,” Zwane told the investigation on Friday.
“For all intents and purposes, we did everything we could to build houses, and to a certain extent, we succeeded,” he said despite widespread failures during his tenure as MEC.
After Zwane’s testimony, the investigation continued to hear evidence from Eskom’s former senior executive, Matshela Koko, who described the “Koko hunt,” a topic that he said concerned him greatly.
Koko has been extensively involved in arranging deals to benefit the Gupta family, in particular forcing Glencore to sell Optimum to the Gupta’s Tegeta.
Koko claimed that he has been accused of corruption because he favored nuclear power production, which was linked to allegations of wrongdoing against former President Jacob Zuma.
Multiple witnesses have testified that Koko had prior knowledge that four executives, including himself, would be suspended by the board in March 2015.
It is alleged that he met with Ajay Gupta and the family’s close associate, Salim Essa, at Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, shortly before the suspensions and then briefed others on the plan. All four executives were duly suspended and only Koko returned to her position, later becoming Eskom’s interim CEO, before reports emerged that her stepdaughter profited handsomely from a questionable contract.
Koko denied being in the meeting with the Guptas, despite evidence from multiple witnesses. He claimed that there was and is a conspiracy against him, with witnesses who received bribes to implicate him and officials who trained witnesses. Several of those witnesses have also been involved in bad deeds. DM
