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The chairman of the state capture commission, Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo, is “frustrated and concerned” after eyewitness testimony about how public funds intended to provide services to the poor were looted by politicians and their friends.
Zondo made the remarks on Wednesday before the hearing was adjourned. It followed three days of testing related to a R1bn housing project in the Free State, a project plagued with allegations of illegalities and payments made for not doing any work.
Since Monday, Zondo has heard from three witnesses about how the provincial government of the Free State, under then-Prime Minister Ace Magashule, paid more than R500m to suppliers and contractors without any complete, low-cost housing in place.
The judge recalled the evidence presented in the commission on the same province during the “years of state capture”, that is, the asbestos eradication project and the Vrede dairy farm project.
What was particularly “concerning” for Zondo was that in all three projects, with a combined value of R2bn, the intended beneficiaries were denied much-needed services, while businessmen and politicians laughed all the way to the bank.
“It is quite worrying that a lot of money set aside for the construction of houses for the people seems to have ended up in the hands of suppliers and contractors, more than R500m they told me, and yet no houses were built,” said Zondo.
“It is very worrying because the government is there to ensure that people get the services they need. A few weeks ago we heard evidence about the asbestos project. I heard evidence that the job could have been done for a cost of R21m, but the [Free State] The provincial government gave the job to a joint venture for more than R250m.
“There is very little, if any work, that the joint venture did. To make matters worse, there was no removal of the asbestos roofs, just counting, ”he said.
“Put that aside, I’ve also heard evidence about the Vrede dairy farm, which was meant to benefit black farmers. There too, the people who were supposed to be beneficiaries, I heard proof that they never got anything, yet millions and millions of rand were paid ”.
Zondo added that the testimony related to the Free State was probably the tip of the iceberg when looking at other provincial governments.
However, due to time constraints, his commission will not investigate other provincial governments. Zondo has set December as the last month to hear oral evidence before compiling its report no later than March 2021.
“[The evidence] It does not necessarily mean that the Free State was the worst because we have not listened to other provinces and we will not do it because that type of work takes years to do, “he said.
By way of farewell, Zondo expressed concern that corruption in the country does not appear to be disappearing.
“This is something that worries me a lot. It is very frustrating to hear what I hear on this committee, and there is no indication that it is slowing down. It seems there are people who don’t care. They want their share of the corruption. “
The investigation will continue on Friday, a day when the former MEC with multiple portfolio in the Free State, Mosebenzi Zwane, is expected to be questioned.
