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According to Zwane, it was not he who came up with the plan, but department officials led by the then department head, Mpho Mokoena.
This is despite Mokoena telling a different story earlier this week, pointing a finger at Zwane, whom he accused of compiling the list of companies himself.
The former MEC said it had raised concerns about the appointment of contractors outside of an open bidding process.
But in her version, Mokoena and her team assured her that such a process was allowed under the Housing Law.
On this basis, he claimed, he had accepted the plan.
But Zwane admitted that until that point, he had never heard of the Housing Law.
He added that the designation of service providers who had been disqualified during the abandoned bidding process was not his decision, but rather that of officials and was approved by the exco.
“The exco agreed with this. When I implemented the plan, it was no longer a decision of one person, but was supported by a collective that included all HoDs from all departments in the province.
“I didn’t realize there could be something unpleasant about an executive-wide procedure.”
Zwane continued to claim ignorance about many things that went wrong during the months of December 2010 and January 2011, when the project attracted the attention of the parent national department.
At the time, it had become clear to the national department that the Free State department would not be able to spend the allocation.
On December 9, then-Minister Tokyo Sexwale wrote to Zwane requesting a representation on why the department should not deduct more than 200 million rand from the allocation to the Free State government and give it to the best performing provinces.
Zwane couldn’t recall if such a statement was made, but he was sure it was.
“I agreed that officials should respond urgently. I think they did, ”Zwane said.
When asked what they said at the Sexwale presentation, he didn’t know.
Zwane will be back for more grilling next Tuesday.
TimesLIVE
