14/07/2011. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela briefs the media on her investigation into complaints and allegations of maladministration, improper and unlawful conduct by the Department of Public Works and the South African Police Service relating to the lease of office accommodation in Durban. Picture: Masi Losi 14/07/2011. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela briefs the media on her investigation into complaints and allegations of maladministration, improper and unlawful conduct by the Department of Public Works and the South African Police Service relating to the lease of office accommodation in Durban. Picture: Masi Losi
SHAUN SMILLIE and CANDICE BAILEY
I t’s the minister who controls the state’s assets and dodged investigators that the Public Protector singled out when she released her findings into the police lease agreement.
Yesterday afternoon, advocate Thuli Madonsela said President Jacob Zuma would have to take action against Minister of Public Works Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde for her involvement in the leasing of the two Durban buildings by the SA Police Service.
Madonsela was releasing her report titled “Against the Rules Too” on the lease of Durban’s Transnet Building to police. She said the lease agreement was invalid and unconstitutional.
This second report comes days after Madonsela faced allegations of corruption for work carried out by a company she owned while a commissioner for the South African Law Reform and follows a report into the Middestad Building lease in Pretoria, which she released in February.
Yesterday’s report revealed how one of the buildings, Durban’s Transnet building, should have been let at a market value of R40 a square metre, but instead was signed to be leased at R125 a square metre.
According to Madonsela, the failure on the part of KwaZulu-Natal regional office of Public Works to address the discrepancy in the rental rates amounted to maladministration.
The process was “fatally flawed in various respects, including noncompliance and prescribed procurement procedures and conditions imposed by the Special National Bid Adjudication Committee”, the report read.
Madonsela said Mahlangu-Nkabinde had not co-operated with investigators.
The report also detailed a list of actions that needed to be taken.
Besides Zuma taking action, Mahlangu-Nkabinde also has to report to the cabinet about her and her department’s involvement in the procurement of the two buildings within 60 days.
Madonsela also recommended that the staff involved in the lease agreement be dealt with.
“The Department of Public Works needs to implement appropriate measures to prevent a recurrence,” said Madonsela.
The public protector’s report also gave provisions regarding the whistleblower in the case, Irene Nel. Madonsela said steps taken against Nel, who raised the alarm in the KwaZulu-Natal deal, had to be reversed and that she should be reinstated to the position she had occupied on July 1.
Madonsela’s treatment of national police commissioner General Bheki Cele was less damning.
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