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Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane addresses the media during the release of the 2016 health and safety statistics in the mining sector on January 19, 2017 in Randfontein. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo)
Some foundations were laid for the RDP houses. Construction materials, when delivered, were dumped on site. Contractors simply failed to build houses, disappeared with government funding, and faced little to no consequences.
In February 2011, then-human settlements minister Tokyo Sexwale reportedly told Mosebenzi Zwane to stop illegal payments for a Free State housing plan.
Mpho Mokoena testified that she heard so much when she attended the meeting at Sexwale’s office. Mokoena, former head of the Free State’s human settlements department, testified at the Zondo Commission on Tuesday, September 22, 2020.
One day before Former President Jacob Zuma was to testify. His lawyers told the secretariat that Zuma was preparing for his criminal trial, had received medical advice to mitigate the risk of contracting Covid-19, and was receiving legal advice on regulation changes.
631 million rand for nothing
With Zuma’s appearance removed from the week’s plan, the legal team presented evidence on an obscenely wasteful Free State housing project. According to current Head of Department (HOD) Nthimotse Mokhesi, the department spent a staggering R631 million on the project without receiving anything In return.
“When the department made its payments, there was no evidence that it received value for the payments it made as to whether the houses were built or partially built,” Mokhesi’s statement read. At most, some foundations were laid for the RDP houses. Construction materials, when delivered, were dumped on site. Contractors simply failed to build houses, disappeared with government funding, and faced little to no consequences.
Mokhesi testified that the department did not profit from its investment, while the consequences of the plan included homelessness for some of those who were destined to benefit and a delay in housing for hundreds of families. His predecessor, Mokoena, claimed that Zwane was the mastermind behind the scam in October 2010.
Worker ‘Mastermind’ Zwane
Zwane now serves as an ANC deputy and is stubborn for his political survival. Zuma appointed him Minister of Mineral Resources in 2015. Previously, he was the MEC of Human Settlements of the Free State.
To date, investigative witnesses have detailed Zwane’s role in the Vrede dairy project. As a minister, he was instrumental to secure the acquisition of Optimum Coal Mine by Tegeta. Now Zwane is accused of planning a wasteful housing project with hundreds of millions of rand missing.
Zwane allegedly hatched a plan in October 2010 to ensure that the provincial department does not lose more than R1 billion allocated by the national department for the 2010-2011 financial year.
“Our problem is that we weren’t spending on our human settlements grant,” Mokoena explained.
He claimed that Zwane proposed a solution: belatedly approving a housing project before the fiscal year is out and hastily paying contractors up front, long before construction milestones were met. “For me, it was illegal,” Mokoena said.
The former HOD insisted that he was the only person at the October 2010 meeting who raised a problem with Zwane’s plan. “We were trying to work from the assignment backwards,” he explained.
Eat the dust
After the October 2010 meeting with officials, Mokoena asked Zwane for a few words in private.
“He told me then: look, we’ve talked about this. This is my plan and it is going to happen, ”Mokoena testified.
Zwane allegedly told Mokoena that if she didn’t sign the approval for the plan’s implementation, she should resign. Mokoena claimed that Zwane threatened him with “abject poverty”, telling Mokoena that he would be “poor, you will be gray, like dust”.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo asked Mokoena to accurately translate what Zwane allegedly told him in Sesotho. Mokoena replied, “You will walk in your shoes, you will not walk in your shoes. In other words, there will be no walking shoes. “
According to Mokoena, Zwane submitted a list of contractors the following week. Mokoena, who had worked in the department for 15 years, knew less than half of the companies. According to Mokhesi, contractors who had never built a single RDP house were given money to build 600 of them.
Not on my turn, says Sexwale
Once Mokoena approved the implementation in late 2010, overpayments began. The payments caused the alarm of Minister Sexwale. The national department was surprised by the department’s payments, including the delivery of cash to suppliers. In February 2011, Zwane and provincial officials (including Mokoena) met with Sexwale in his office.
During the meeting, Mokoena said, Zwane addressed the legality of the plan he allegedly hatched in October 2010. Mokoena recalled:
“The minister said, ‘No, I won’t accept it. I hear you, but this is not correct. ‘ “
“Did the MEC try to persuade the national minister that the plan was legitimate?” Pretorius asked.
“He tried at the meeting, but was unsuccessful,” Mokoena said.
He wrote in his affidavit to the investigation:
“The minister said he heard that we were paying in advance and that he must be stopped, as it is illegal and could not happen while he is the Minister of Human Settlements.”
Zondo questioned Mokoena at her own risk:
Why couldn’t you build a single house? Why didn’t you appoint service providers on time? Because you were the HOD. “
Mokoena said she regretted many of her actions as HOD. Pretorius nodded to the witness for his frankness. In 2013-2014, the provincial department investigated the scheme and sanctioned some managers.
Consequences? What consequences!
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has also questioned the plan’s finances. Appearing puzzled by the inaction, Zondo wanted to know why there were no arrests. He lobbied Mokhesi on why the political “kingpins” of the scam hadn’t been brought into the book.
Zondo said: “It is concerning because part of the complaints related to the state capture allegations is that some of the law enforcement agencies were paralyzed or did not do their job on certain issues.”
Pretorius noted: “In the first place, it seems unfair to accuse those who were in the hierarchical order, so to speak, in the execution of the plan and not to accuse the person who designed the plan.”
Zondo added: “It is concerning when taxpayers have lost so much money that we are talking about here and lost it in 2010 and 2011 at the close of the fiscal year. […] that’s March 2011.
“Ten years later there is nothing that the public knows that the department knows that gives confidence that something is being done, that the matter is being given the urgent attention it deserves.”
Mokoena must continue with her tests on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 starting at 10 am DM
