A spate of perturbing cases involving our police and court systems has strong political undertones, writes Sam Sole.
Safeguards against the abuse of state power face one of their stiffest tests in the series of intertwined cases involving former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, suspended prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach, former police commissioner Bheki Cele and the 20 policemen arrested this week as part of a crackdown on the so-called Cato Manor police death squad.
Every government tries to use the coercive weight of state authority to remove problems it would rather not deal with through open and drawn-out legal processes. But the shortcuts taken by the Zuma administration have been piling up in an unsustainable way that threatens the prolonged destabilisation of both the police and the prosecution service. The attempts at political manipulation also have implications for the media because various sides in the conflict have used leaks and spin to smear their opponents.
Complicating the process – perhaps even driving it – is that in each case personal interests are involved for the most senior political figures, including Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and President Jacob Zuma. Moreover, those shortcuts are now facing unprecedented scrutiny in a blizzard of cases.
In terms of Mdluli, they include:
His challenge to his suspension in the Johannesburg Labour Court;
The new disciplinary charges filed against him by outgoing acting police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi;
The inquest into the 1999 murder of Oupa Ramogibe, the husband of Mdluli’s former lover;
The Freedom Under Law challenge to the withdrawal of charges against Mdluli and his short-lived reinstatement as divisional commissioner for crime intelligence following the intervention of Mthethwa;
The Hawks investigation into abuses of the secret services account, which implicated Mdluli and other senior crime intelligence officers;
Breytenbach’s challenge to being suspended by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which she alleges had the ulterior motive of preventing her from prosecuting Mdluli for allegedly defrauding the secret services account;
The preliminary investigation by the public protector into Mdluli’s possible role in the surveillance or targeting of Zuma’s political rivals, following a complaint laid by Tokyo Sexwale;
The involvement of the inspector general of intelligence and the auditor general in some aspects of these investigations; and
The ministerial task team appointed by Mthethwa to look into Mdluli’s allegations of a conspiracy against him by other senior police officers.
In terms of Cele, they include:
His high court challenge to the findings of the Moloi inquiry into his fitness to hold office;
Judge Jake Moloi’s recommendation to investigate further Cele’s involvement in the Roux Shabangu police headquarters leasing scandal, as well as question marks over several senior police appointments;
The ongoing litigation over the cancelled leases between the department of public works, Shabangu and his banker, Nedbank;
The suggestion that, because of his closeness to some of those involved, Cele may be drawn into the Cato Manor “hit squad” case and the prosecution of nouveau millionairess Shauwn Mpisane for allegedly defrauding the South African Revenue Service. Cele was conspicuously present in court to support both sets of accused; and
The investigation into how crime intelligence came to intercept Cele’s telephone calls – as well as those of two Sunday Times journalists.
Regarding Breytenbach:
The NPA denies that her involvement in pressing for Mdluli’s prosecution played any role in disciplinary action taken against her, instead citing allegations of improper conduct in another politically charged case – the Kumba Iron Ore criminal case against politically connected company Imperial Crown Trading.
The interwoven strands of these cases can perhaps best be understood by traversing the history of one of the key players.
Cele, contrary to some views, has not been a steady backer of Zuma.
During his time in KwaZulu-Natal, he was for a long time associated with the S’bu Ndebele faction of the provincial ANC, which supported former president Thabo Mbeki until the reality of the Zuma tsunami forced most to switch sides. Historically, Cele was seen as the power broker for the eThekwini region that controlled access to the significant resources of the Durban metro council.
Allies of Cele, such as the Mpisanes and the Gcaba taxi family, benefited from Durban contracts in housing and transport. To complicate matters, the Gcabas are said to have been important contributors to the funds raised for Zuma while he was fighting the corruption charges being pursued by the Scorpions. In 1998 Sbu Mpisane (Shauwn’s husband), a metro police constable, was due to be a state witness in the trial of long-distance taxi boss Mandla Gcaba, accused of arranging the revenge killing of a rival taxi owner. But Mpisane, whose car was identified as the getaway vehicle, disappeared and his failure to testify may have played a role in Gcaba’s acquittal. Mpisane later reappeared and rose to fame as Durban’s richest metro policeman, courtesy of his wife’s company. Conflict between rival taxi associations also looms large in the history of the Cato Manor unit, which fell under provincial Hawks boss Major General Johan Booysen.
During Cele’s tenure as KwaZulu-Natal safety and security MEC, he and Booysen were both cited in an interdict obtained in October 2008 by the chairperson of the kwaMaphumulo Taxi Association, Bongani Mkhize, preventing the police from killing him.
Mkhize, who was embroiled in a long turf war with another taxi association, was being sought in connection with the murder of Kranskop police commander Zethembe Chonco in August that year. At the time of the interdict, the police, including members of the Cato Manor organised crime unit, had killed seven suspects linked to the Chonco murder in alleged shoot-outs. Despite the interdict, Mkhize was shot dead in February 2009 by a police task team that included members of the Cato Manor unit. Police claimed he fired on them, but a ballistics expert brought in by the family raised serious doubts about their version. This killing also featured in the secret intelligence report leaked by the Mdluli camp in March 2011, just ahead of Mdluli’s arrest for the 1999 love triangle murder.
The report – without advancing evidence – accused Cele of orchestrating the killing of Chonco to cover up his own supposed involvement in taxi violence, which Chonco had “stumbled on”, and then arranging for all those involved in the Chonco murder to meet a similar grisly end. Cele, in turn, is understood to have supported the murder investigation into Mdluli, which was reopened shortly before Cele assumed office in 2009. Both Zuma and Mthethwa have also been drawn into the drama around Booysen and members of the Cato Manor unit.
Police claimed to have evidence that taxi boss Mkhize was involved in planning the murder of chief Mbongeleni Zondi, a relative and ally of Zuma. According to a police intelligence source, Zondi, a former policeman, was targeted by Mkhize because he was suspected of providing the information that led to the killing of Maphumulo taxi association boss Magojela Ndimande and his bodyguard in December 2008. They, too, were gunned down by members of the Cato Manor unit, purportedly while on the trail of Chonco’s killers – and all but one of the four suspects accused of involvement in the Zondi killing are now dead at the hands of the police.
In all cases, the Cato Manor unit is claiming the justifiable use of deadly force, but the high-visibility arrests of its members this week suggest an attempt to break the bonds of solidarity that traditionally exist in such a unit. Even sympathetic sources concede that the unit may have become trigger-happy, particularly in relation to suspects allegedly involved in the killing of policemen. But the high-profile involvement of opposing political figures – notably Mthethwa’s earlier vocal demand for the disbanding of the unit and Cele’s public show of support this week – suggests there is more at stake. Booysen, although not charged, is clearly a target. He was initially threatened with suspension for failing to act on the Cato Manor unit’s alleged abuses, but rebuffed the attempt in court. But Booysen is also key to an investigation that has exposed the involvement of the president’s relatives, notably Zuma’s son Edward and Zuma’s friend Deebo Mzobe. Both men have been accused of attempting to intercede in the investigation of Durban multimillionaire Thoshan Panday, accused of fraud in police accommodation contracts. Both have denied their involvement, but not their links to Panday.
Citizen reporter Paul Kirk, who is known to have good contacts in the Cato Manor unit, reported this week that some of the arrested policemen had been involved in investigations into Edward Zuma and his business partners – and that others had been used in probes targeting Mdluli. Mthethwa has, in particular, been embarrassed by leaks about the use of secret services account money to upgrade security at his KwaZulu-Natal home.
On the other hand, the Hawks component of the investigation into the Cato Manor unit was led by Major General Ntebo Mabula, a policeman known to be a trusted associate of Mdluli. The investigation into the unit was prompted by a front-page story in the Sunday Times – complete with some shocking crime-scene pictures of Cato Manor members and their victims. Both the tip-off for the story and the supply of the pictures appear to have come from senior unnamed crime intelligence officers, although the Sunday Times has denied being manipulated by its sources.
The web of cases linking Cele, Mdluli and Breytenbach appears to have many strands that might pose a risk to Zuma and his allies, should they be fully teased out. That may explain the heavy-handed tactics on display in Durban, where the Cato Manor cops offered to hand themselves over but were arrested and handcuffed in front of their families. This approach is also evident in the Breytenbach case, in which the prosecutor has even been charged with performing work outside of the NPA by renting out a flat and running a horse-stabling business.
It may also explain the apparently endless blocking manoeuvres available to Mdluli to challenge his suspension. Whether the strong-arm tactics succeed may depend on how vulnerable those in the firing line perceive themselves to be — and how vulnerable they think the president is.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Showing posts with label Roux Shabangu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roux Shabangu. Show all posts
Friday, June 22, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
We'll prove Cele is corrupt, inquiry hears
Submissions will be presented to prove that suspended national police commissioner Bheki Cele is corrupt and dishonest, a board of inquiry into allegations against him heard on Monday.Cele had initiated and participated in a "flawed tender process", the evidence-leading team's advocate Mbuyiseli Madlanga submitted in his closing arguments in the Tshwane Council Chambers.
"General Cele was not a nearby bystander in the tender process - he was actively part of the process," Madlanga contended.
The board of inquiry, appointed by President Jacob Zuma and chaired by Judge Jake Moloi, is mandated to establish whether Cele acted corruptly, dishonestly, or with an undeclared conflict of interest in relation to two police lease deals signed with property tycoon Roux Shabangu. It also has to determine his fitness to hold office, and his capacity to efficiently execute his duties. Such misconduct could warrant a recommendation for his dismissal. On Monday, Madlanga argued that the degree of Cele's misconduct was gross and that the situation was worsened by transgressions of the Public Finance Management Act. He said former police procurement head and deputy commissioner Hamilton Hlela had been a good witness whose evidence should be accepted by the board.
Cele had called Hlela back to a Southern African Development Community policing event in Boksburg in March 2010, to raise questions around the procurement process, Madlanga argued. This has been denied by Cele, who testified that he called Hlela back to the venue because, according to police protocol, he was not supposed to leave before his superiors. However, Madlanga contended that Hlela left after the procurement talks and that this was corroborated by his driver. According to Hlela's evidence, when he met Cele in the parking lot of the Boksburg hotel, he was told about the existence of office space and that the owner was going to contact him. Hlela said Shabangu later called him to discuss accommodation procurement.
Source: Times Live
"General Cele was not a nearby bystander in the tender process - he was actively part of the process," Madlanga contended.
The board of inquiry, appointed by President Jacob Zuma and chaired by Judge Jake Moloi, is mandated to establish whether Cele acted corruptly, dishonestly, or with an undeclared conflict of interest in relation to two police lease deals signed with property tycoon Roux Shabangu. It also has to determine his fitness to hold office, and his capacity to efficiently execute his duties. Such misconduct could warrant a recommendation for his dismissal. On Monday, Madlanga argued that the degree of Cele's misconduct was gross and that the situation was worsened by transgressions of the Public Finance Management Act. He said former police procurement head and deputy commissioner Hamilton Hlela had been a good witness whose evidence should be accepted by the board.
Cele had called Hlela back to a Southern African Development Community policing event in Boksburg in March 2010, to raise questions around the procurement process, Madlanga argued. This has been denied by Cele, who testified that he called Hlela back to the venue because, according to police protocol, he was not supposed to leave before his superiors. However, Madlanga contended that Hlela left after the procurement talks and that this was corroborated by his driver. According to Hlela's evidence, when he met Cele in the parking lot of the Boksburg hotel, he was told about the existence of office space and that the owner was going to contact him. Hlela said Shabangu later called him to discuss accommodation procurement.
Source: Times Live
Monday, February 27, 2012
Fraud unravels everything
The famous words of Lord Denning: "fraud unravels everything" may be applicable to the situation which has arisen as a consequence of the investigation of the South African Police Services (SAPS) headquarters leases in Pretoria and Durban by the Office of the Public Protector.
According to press reports, the Minister of Public Works has received a letter of demand from the putative landlord, Roux Shabangu, who in turn is facing demands from Nedbank, the financier of the two invalid and unlawful deals in terms of which the SAPS headquarters were to be moved to buildings acquired by Shabangu's company Roux Property Fund (RPF).
As both deals were for procurement on behalf of the state, it was incumbent upon the parties involved to ensure that the procurement was effected in accordance with a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective. This is a constitutional requirement that is reinforced by the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.
Nedbank and Shabangu should be aware of the legal and constitutional environment in which they do business. The consequence of conduct inconsistent with the Constitution is that such conduct (the conclusion of the two leases in this case) is invalid. The invalidity of the leases leaves both Shabangu and Nedbank without any legal recourse against the Minister or any other organ of state.
This is as it should be: the flouting of the requirements for proper tendering can not be rewarded with claims for damages, irrespective of the greed for profit of those involved. It is impossible to found a good cause of action in a moral swamp, or as AP Herbert put it: "a dirty dog gets no dinner from the courts". The mere invalidity of the leases, as determined by the OPP, excuses the taxpayer from having to compensate either the bank or the property developer involved in the negotiations outside the framework of the law and the criteria of the Constitution.
The "elephant in the room" in the SAPS HQ case is the astronomical rentals agreed in the putative leases. The willingness of the state to pay more than three times the going rate in rental for the two buildings in question has not been explained by any of the parties involved. The Public Protector herself, rather charitably, speculates that this could be due to incompetence, negligence, or even recklessness. It could also be due to fraud and corruption. No one knows because, in an ongoing display of lack of accountability, none of the players involved in the deals has explained their conduct or justified the decision to pay rental out of all proportion to the market value of the premises chosen. In the case of the Durban lease there is also the question of the dilapidated state of the building in question, and the obligation of the state to pay for its renovation to render it fit for habitation by SAPS personnel deployed at head office level.
It is reported that Nedbank is demanding to be repaid its loans to RPF. Shabangu's response has been to start legal proceedings to recoup R 1 billion from the Minister. She is blamed for reinstating the leases upon taking office, despite two opinions from senior counsel to the effect that they were unlawfully concluded. This purported act of reinstatement is legally ineffective. If the leases could not pass constitutional muster because they were not fair, equitable, transparently negotiated, competitively priced and cost effectively concluded; their alleged reinstatement can not magically render them valid. They are and remain invalid for want of compliance with the requirements of section 217 of the Constitution, as the OPP has found, thereby confirming the opinions of the two senior counsel whose advice was sought.
The officials in Nedbank who agreed to lend the necessary finance to Shabangu owe their management, and Nedbank's shareholders, an explanation for getting involved in the deal. It is the equivalent of paying R1250 for a tank of petrol at a particular pump when all other pumps are supplying petrol at R400 per tank. It reeks of impropriety.
Taxpayers can feel lucky that Shabangu rejected a settlement offer of R50 million which he says was made last year by the Department of Public Works. That offer was worth R50 million more than he is entitled to, and should not be repeated.
The Minister may have many problems around the conclusion of the leases and her own role in purporting to re-instate them, but a successful claim for damages is not one of them.
Paul Hoffman SC
27th July, 2011
According to press reports, the Minister of Public Works has received a letter of demand from the putative landlord, Roux Shabangu, who in turn is facing demands from Nedbank, the financier of the two invalid and unlawful deals in terms of which the SAPS headquarters were to be moved to buildings acquired by Shabangu's company Roux Property Fund (RPF).
As both deals were for procurement on behalf of the state, it was incumbent upon the parties involved to ensure that the procurement was effected in accordance with a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective. This is a constitutional requirement that is reinforced by the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.
Nedbank and Shabangu should be aware of the legal and constitutional environment in which they do business. The consequence of conduct inconsistent with the Constitution is that such conduct (the conclusion of the two leases in this case) is invalid. The invalidity of the leases leaves both Shabangu and Nedbank without any legal recourse against the Minister or any other organ of state.
This is as it should be: the flouting of the requirements for proper tendering can not be rewarded with claims for damages, irrespective of the greed for profit of those involved. It is impossible to found a good cause of action in a moral swamp, or as AP Herbert put it: "a dirty dog gets no dinner from the courts". The mere invalidity of the leases, as determined by the OPP, excuses the taxpayer from having to compensate either the bank or the property developer involved in the negotiations outside the framework of the law and the criteria of the Constitution.
The "elephant in the room" in the SAPS HQ case is the astronomical rentals agreed in the putative leases. The willingness of the state to pay more than three times the going rate in rental for the two buildings in question has not been explained by any of the parties involved. The Public Protector herself, rather charitably, speculates that this could be due to incompetence, negligence, or even recklessness. It could also be due to fraud and corruption. No one knows because, in an ongoing display of lack of accountability, none of the players involved in the deals has explained their conduct or justified the decision to pay rental out of all proportion to the market value of the premises chosen. In the case of the Durban lease there is also the question of the dilapidated state of the building in question, and the obligation of the state to pay for its renovation to render it fit for habitation by SAPS personnel deployed at head office level.
It is reported that Nedbank is demanding to be repaid its loans to RPF. Shabangu's response has been to start legal proceedings to recoup R 1 billion from the Minister. She is blamed for reinstating the leases upon taking office, despite two opinions from senior counsel to the effect that they were unlawfully concluded. This purported act of reinstatement is legally ineffective. If the leases could not pass constitutional muster because they were not fair, equitable, transparently negotiated, competitively priced and cost effectively concluded; their alleged reinstatement can not magically render them valid. They are and remain invalid for want of compliance with the requirements of section 217 of the Constitution, as the OPP has found, thereby confirming the opinions of the two senior counsel whose advice was sought.
The officials in Nedbank who agreed to lend the necessary finance to Shabangu owe their management, and Nedbank's shareholders, an explanation for getting involved in the deal. It is the equivalent of paying R1250 for a tank of petrol at a particular pump when all other pumps are supplying petrol at R400 per tank. It reeks of impropriety.
Taxpayers can feel lucky that Shabangu rejected a settlement offer of R50 million which he says was made last year by the Department of Public Works. That offer was worth R50 million more than he is entitled to, and should not be repeated.
The Minister may have many problems around the conclusion of the leases and her own role in purporting to re-instate them, but a successful claim for damages is not one of them.
Paul Hoffman SC
27th July, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Protector's challenge to the president
Thuli Madonsela has thrown down the gauntlet to President Jacob Zuma, demanding that he confront her awkward findings and recommendations on two police lease deals worth a total of R1.78-billion. On Thursday the public protector released the second of her devastating reports on the leases, calling on Zuma and his Cabinet to take action against Minister of Public Works Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, national police commissioner Bheki Cele and senior officials.
Madonsela's latest report found that a lease agreement between the public works department and businessman Roux Shabangu, for a headquarters building for the provincial South African Police Service in Durban, is invalid. In her previous report, released in February, she made similar findings about another police lease in Pretoria, also between public works and Shabangu.
Zuma has delayed acting on the Pretoria report, sending Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to negotiate for action to be taken only after the release of the latest report. Now it is time for the president to show to his backbone on the issue. Will he accept the findings and act decisively, or will he delay again?
The political ramifications of both options are significant. Madonsela's recommendations are stronger now, as they are bolstered by new evidence, and the political atmosphere has become charged by the furore that followed last week's media leak of the protector's "imminent arrest".
But if Zuma acts on her recommendations there could be unpleasant political consequences -- particularly if his role in the Shabangu leases was not benign. It is still not clear, for example, why Zuma sacked former public works minister Geoff Doidge, who was investigating the Shabangu deals.
And it is suspicious that Mahlangu-Nkabinde, Doidge's replacement, promptly suspended director general Siviwe Dongwana -- who was also investigating the deals -- and pushed the Pretoria lease through against senior legal opinion and despite her department's decision to suspend the lease.
Commenting on such suspicions, Madonsela said: "We could not find evidence of criminality. We could not explain why people behaved the way they did. The conduct of the police and the public works department was quite strange in trying to move regardless of the circumstances. But I can't make findings on the basis of a hunch. Their behaviour was strange." She said: "I am not prescribing what should be done, but I expect the president to do the right thing."
The biggest problem Madonsela has handed to Zuma is Mahlangu-Nkabinde, who refused to answer certain questions during the public protector's investigation. Madonsela said Mahlangu-Nkabinde's behaviour was improper and unlawful and the minister had "failed to meet the requisite of statesmanship expected from her". She urged Zuma to consider taking action against Mahlangu-Nkabinde. The minister should, within 60 days, "report to the Cabinet on her actions in relation to the procurement of the leases … and her failure to fully co-operate with the public protector".
Zuma will then have to deal with the Cele problem -- or publicly duck it. The commissioner once provided muscle for Zuma's rise to the presidency and is now rumoured to be part of a faction aiming to unseat him. Madonsela found Cele to be guilty of improper and unlawful conduct and maladministration. "The minister of police [Nathi Mthethwa] should, with the assistance of the national treasury, take urgent steps to ensure that the appropriate action is instituted against all the relevant officials of the SAPS," Madonsela said. These included Cele.
She also recommended that Mahlangu-Nkabinde take action against her errant officials, with the assistance of the treasury and the public service department. And while these steps were followed, Madonsela recommended that the police review their needs analysis for the accommodation of their provincial offices and the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units in Durban, which were to be housed in Shabangu's building.
The public works department should then follow proper procedures to help the police find suitable, cost-effective accommodation, as they are mandated to do. "The department of public works and the SAPS must ensure that appropriate measures are implemented to prevent a recurrence of contraventions of the relevant procurement legislation and prescripts," she said.
In both Durban and Pretoria Madonsela found that the lease agreements were invalid because their procurement had not complied with constitutional requirements and other regulations. In both cases she said the police -- Cele in particular, although he denies this -- had identified the buildings before involving the public works department, which is what they should have done. Public works then chose, irregularly, to deviate from open tender procedures, negotiating directly with Shabangu and settling on higher than market-value leases, which compromised the police's stretched operations budget. Shabangu contacted police and public works officials "and is alleged to have put pressure on them in regard to the finalisation of the procurement process".
Madonsela emphasised that there was no evidence of criminality in her investigation of Shabangu's role. "The argument presented by the department of finance was that since we could not conclude that Roux Property Fund [Shabangu's company] had got the leases because of fraud or through other illegal processes, we could not use the law to red-card him," she said. Little has changed in the protector's report compared with the draft that was leaked before she received the responses of those implicated. Looking at those responses -- now dealt with in the final report -- it is easy to understand why.
Commissioner Cele was at pains to point out that he did not invent the SAPS's need for a new lease. "On the contrary, there was a need to either relocate to a new building or construct one long before I came into this department in August 2009," he told the protector.
One of the main aspects of the provisional report disputed by Cele is that it was he who identified the Transnet building as alternative accommodation for police in Durban. But Madonsela says two of his subordinates -- Generals Hlela and Terblanche -- confirmed, independently of each other, that Cele had indeed instructed them to procure the lease of the Transnet building. She also points to an information note signed by Cele, dated June 28 last year, that apparently confirmed that the Transnet building was identified for leasing.
Cele points a finger at public works as the department responsible for managing the procurement process correctly. "The DPW is solely responsible for the unlawful conclusion of the lease agreement," he says.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde's version is contradicted by almost every other player in the leasing saga. According to Madonsela's report, the minister explained a mysterious increase in floor space needed by police -- which ended up being exactly what was on offer at Shabangu's building -- as being added "to accommodate for non-assignable areas, such as partitions, passages, toilets and common areas". "This explanation of the minister is, however, not in line with the needs analysis that was resubmitted by the SAPS," the protector noted.
The minister claimed that Doidge and his director general, Siviwe Dongwana, did not brief her properly. She denies instructing Dongwana to inform Shabangu's bankers that the transaction was proceeding. She refused to answer questions from the public protector, she claimed, because the report on the Pretoria lease showed that Madonsela had already made up her mind.
Shabangu denied applying undue pressure on public works officials, including the director general, or improperly influencing them in the procurement process relating to the Pretoria and Durban leases. He further denied ever meeting the minister outside her office. Asked to explain how he became aware of the SAPS's need for alternative accommodation in Durban, Shabangu indicated that he was informed that the office lease of the provincial police was due to expire and was provided with a "needs analysis" indicating the extent of the required alternative accommodation. It was because he was aware of the extent of the need for alternative accommodation in Durban that his company decided to buy the Transnet building.
But Madonsela noted: "Shabangu's above explanation is inconsistent with the documentary evidence obtained during the investigation, in terms of which it was found that the first needs analysis, reflecting the extent of the SAPS's need for alternative accommodation, was only submitted to the DPW on 23 June 2010. "However, the sale agreement for the Transnet building was concluded with Shabangu on behalf of [Roux Shabangu] on 19 March 2010, three months earlier." Ten days after Independent Newspapers claimed Thuli Madonsela faced imminent arrest for fraud and corruption there is no clarity on who was pushing the "investigation" and who leaked it. As the public backlash mounted, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa claimed the public protector was not being investigated.
Radebe cleared Madonsela of wrongdoing relating to work her company did for the justice department while she was a full-time South African Law Reform Commission member. President Jacob Zuma rushed to send out a statement of support. The newspaper group then produced "irrefutable proof" of its claims — an "information note" showing only that police were given insight, presumably by someone in the justice department, into a justice department file containing a September 2009 state law opinion on Madonsela's business interests. Police also apparently gave details of departmental payments to her company.
But, significantly, the note was directed to the Hawks's commercial crime head, Hans Meiring, which suggests senior police interest. The matter is also understood to have been drawn to Hawks boss Anwa Dramat's attention. "High-level sources" then leaked the document to a journalist, couched in claims of "imminent arrest" on "fraud and corruption charges" -- which the document did not prove.
Was there ever a police probe of Madonsela? Who was behind it? Was Independent Newspapers manipulated? By whom and why? In seeking to deny that there had been an investigation Hawks spokesperson Macintosh Polela made much of an apparent error in the case number refered to in the information note. It was all an "unfortunate mix-up", he said. The case number refered to a totally separate case ergo the note did not prove Madonsela had been investigated.
In fact the case number proves nothing of the kind. Independent Newspapers originally wrote: "The police stumbled upon information on Madonsela while investigating a separate case registered at the Pretoria Central Police Station." But investigating officer James Hills wrote in the information note: "During the investigation of Pretoria-Central CAS 515/01/2008 at the department of justice and constitutional development, the following came to my attention." Clearly this case number is associated with the "separate case". It was never intended either by the Independent Group or by Hill to refer to the Madonsela probe.
Polela used this confusion to cover the fact that Cabinet had made it politically difficult for police to come clean on the investigation and the leak. He said: "There was a mix-up when someone read a file for that case. It appears there was a piece of paper which mentioned Madonsela, but I don't know what that piece of paper was about … As far as I know [the leak] is not being investigated from our side."
The previous week police headquarters said the South African Police Service would launch a full investigation into the circumstances that led to "media reports …that the public protector is about to be arrested" and would announce the outcome.
Why the arrest claim was leaked days before the release of Madonsela’s second SAPS lease report -- and why ministers then smothered the matter -- remain smouldering questions.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Madonsela's latest report found that a lease agreement between the public works department and businessman Roux Shabangu, for a headquarters building for the provincial South African Police Service in Durban, is invalid. In her previous report, released in February, she made similar findings about another police lease in Pretoria, also between public works and Shabangu.
Zuma has delayed acting on the Pretoria report, sending Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to negotiate for action to be taken only after the release of the latest report. Now it is time for the president to show to his backbone on the issue. Will he accept the findings and act decisively, or will he delay again?
The political ramifications of both options are significant. Madonsela's recommendations are stronger now, as they are bolstered by new evidence, and the political atmosphere has become charged by the furore that followed last week's media leak of the protector's "imminent arrest".
But if Zuma acts on her recommendations there could be unpleasant political consequences -- particularly if his role in the Shabangu leases was not benign. It is still not clear, for example, why Zuma sacked former public works minister Geoff Doidge, who was investigating the Shabangu deals.
And it is suspicious that Mahlangu-Nkabinde, Doidge's replacement, promptly suspended director general Siviwe Dongwana -- who was also investigating the deals -- and pushed the Pretoria lease through against senior legal opinion and despite her department's decision to suspend the lease.
Commenting on such suspicions, Madonsela said: "We could not find evidence of criminality. We could not explain why people behaved the way they did. The conduct of the police and the public works department was quite strange in trying to move regardless of the circumstances. But I can't make findings on the basis of a hunch. Their behaviour was strange." She said: "I am not prescribing what should be done, but I expect the president to do the right thing."
The biggest problem Madonsela has handed to Zuma is Mahlangu-Nkabinde, who refused to answer certain questions during the public protector's investigation. Madonsela said Mahlangu-Nkabinde's behaviour was improper and unlawful and the minister had "failed to meet the requisite of statesmanship expected from her". She urged Zuma to consider taking action against Mahlangu-Nkabinde. The minister should, within 60 days, "report to the Cabinet on her actions in relation to the procurement of the leases … and her failure to fully co-operate with the public protector".
Zuma will then have to deal with the Cele problem -- or publicly duck it. The commissioner once provided muscle for Zuma's rise to the presidency and is now rumoured to be part of a faction aiming to unseat him. Madonsela found Cele to be guilty of improper and unlawful conduct and maladministration. "The minister of police [Nathi Mthethwa] should, with the assistance of the national treasury, take urgent steps to ensure that the appropriate action is instituted against all the relevant officials of the SAPS," Madonsela said. These included Cele.
She also recommended that Mahlangu-Nkabinde take action against her errant officials, with the assistance of the treasury and the public service department. And while these steps were followed, Madonsela recommended that the police review their needs analysis for the accommodation of their provincial offices and the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units in Durban, which were to be housed in Shabangu's building.
The public works department should then follow proper procedures to help the police find suitable, cost-effective accommodation, as they are mandated to do. "The department of public works and the SAPS must ensure that appropriate measures are implemented to prevent a recurrence of contraventions of the relevant procurement legislation and prescripts," she said.
In both Durban and Pretoria Madonsela found that the lease agreements were invalid because their procurement had not complied with constitutional requirements and other regulations. In both cases she said the police -- Cele in particular, although he denies this -- had identified the buildings before involving the public works department, which is what they should have done. Public works then chose, irregularly, to deviate from open tender procedures, negotiating directly with Shabangu and settling on higher than market-value leases, which compromised the police's stretched operations budget. Shabangu contacted police and public works officials "and is alleged to have put pressure on them in regard to the finalisation of the procurement process".
Madonsela emphasised that there was no evidence of criminality in her investigation of Shabangu's role. "The argument presented by the department of finance was that since we could not conclude that Roux Property Fund [Shabangu's company] had got the leases because of fraud or through other illegal processes, we could not use the law to red-card him," she said. Little has changed in the protector's report compared with the draft that was leaked before she received the responses of those implicated. Looking at those responses -- now dealt with in the final report -- it is easy to understand why.
Commissioner Cele was at pains to point out that he did not invent the SAPS's need for a new lease. "On the contrary, there was a need to either relocate to a new building or construct one long before I came into this department in August 2009," he told the protector.
One of the main aspects of the provisional report disputed by Cele is that it was he who identified the Transnet building as alternative accommodation for police in Durban. But Madonsela says two of his subordinates -- Generals Hlela and Terblanche -- confirmed, independently of each other, that Cele had indeed instructed them to procure the lease of the Transnet building. She also points to an information note signed by Cele, dated June 28 last year, that apparently confirmed that the Transnet building was identified for leasing.
Cele points a finger at public works as the department responsible for managing the procurement process correctly. "The DPW is solely responsible for the unlawful conclusion of the lease agreement," he says.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde's version is contradicted by almost every other player in the leasing saga. According to Madonsela's report, the minister explained a mysterious increase in floor space needed by police -- which ended up being exactly what was on offer at Shabangu's building -- as being added "to accommodate for non-assignable areas, such as partitions, passages, toilets and common areas". "This explanation of the minister is, however, not in line with the needs analysis that was resubmitted by the SAPS," the protector noted.
The minister claimed that Doidge and his director general, Siviwe Dongwana, did not brief her properly. She denies instructing Dongwana to inform Shabangu's bankers that the transaction was proceeding. She refused to answer questions from the public protector, she claimed, because the report on the Pretoria lease showed that Madonsela had already made up her mind.
Shabangu denied applying undue pressure on public works officials, including the director general, or improperly influencing them in the procurement process relating to the Pretoria and Durban leases. He further denied ever meeting the minister outside her office. Asked to explain how he became aware of the SAPS's need for alternative accommodation in Durban, Shabangu indicated that he was informed that the office lease of the provincial police was due to expire and was provided with a "needs analysis" indicating the extent of the required alternative accommodation. It was because he was aware of the extent of the need for alternative accommodation in Durban that his company decided to buy the Transnet building.
But Madonsela noted: "Shabangu's above explanation is inconsistent with the documentary evidence obtained during the investigation, in terms of which it was found that the first needs analysis, reflecting the extent of the SAPS's need for alternative accommodation, was only submitted to the DPW on 23 June 2010. "However, the sale agreement for the Transnet building was concluded with Shabangu on behalf of [Roux Shabangu] on 19 March 2010, three months earlier." Ten days after Independent Newspapers claimed Thuli Madonsela faced imminent arrest for fraud and corruption there is no clarity on who was pushing the "investigation" and who leaked it. As the public backlash mounted, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa claimed the public protector was not being investigated.
Radebe cleared Madonsela of wrongdoing relating to work her company did for the justice department while she was a full-time South African Law Reform Commission member. President Jacob Zuma rushed to send out a statement of support. The newspaper group then produced "irrefutable proof" of its claims — an "information note" showing only that police were given insight, presumably by someone in the justice department, into a justice department file containing a September 2009 state law opinion on Madonsela's business interests. Police also apparently gave details of departmental payments to her company.
But, significantly, the note was directed to the Hawks's commercial crime head, Hans Meiring, which suggests senior police interest. The matter is also understood to have been drawn to Hawks boss Anwa Dramat's attention. "High-level sources" then leaked the document to a journalist, couched in claims of "imminent arrest" on "fraud and corruption charges" -- which the document did not prove.
Was there ever a police probe of Madonsela? Who was behind it? Was Independent Newspapers manipulated? By whom and why? In seeking to deny that there had been an investigation Hawks spokesperson Macintosh Polela made much of an apparent error in the case number refered to in the information note. It was all an "unfortunate mix-up", he said. The case number refered to a totally separate case ergo the note did not prove Madonsela had been investigated.
In fact the case number proves nothing of the kind. Independent Newspapers originally wrote: "The police stumbled upon information on Madonsela while investigating a separate case registered at the Pretoria Central Police Station." But investigating officer James Hills wrote in the information note: "During the investigation of Pretoria-Central CAS 515/01/2008 at the department of justice and constitutional development, the following came to my attention." Clearly this case number is associated with the "separate case". It was never intended either by the Independent Group or by Hill to refer to the Madonsela probe.
Polela used this confusion to cover the fact that Cabinet had made it politically difficult for police to come clean on the investigation and the leak. He said: "There was a mix-up when someone read a file for that case. It appears there was a piece of paper which mentioned Madonsela, but I don't know what that piece of paper was about … As far as I know [the leak] is not being investigated from our side."
The previous week police headquarters said the South African Police Service would launch a full investigation into the circumstances that led to "media reports …that the public protector is about to be arrested" and would announce the outcome.
Why the arrest claim was leaked days before the release of Madonsela’s second SAPS lease report -- and why ministers then smothered the matter -- remain smouldering questions.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Thuli Madonsela: A timeline
News reports about attacks on the Public Protector can be confusing. Why was she accused of fraud and who are her enemies? Use our timeline to make sense of the story.
October 2009
Advocate Thuli Madonsela is announced as South Africa's new Public Protector -- South Africa's third since 1994. She replaces Lawrence Mushwana, who had a dubious record in connection with the Oilgate scandal.
2 August 2010
Complaints are lodged by Paul Hoffman of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa and Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus with the Public Protector in connection with a Sunday Times report alleging improper procurement in the leasing of office accommodation for the South African Police Services (SAPS) in the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria and the Transnet Building in Durban. These complaints originated from a newspaper article published on August 1 2010 alleging improper conduct and maladministration by police National Commissioner Bheki Cele and the Department of Public Works (DPW). The combined value of the leases amounts to over R1.7bn and is entered into between the South African Police Service and controversial property vendor Roux Shabangu.
August 3 2010
Madonsela requests Cele and officials at DPW to cease with implementation of the said leases until an investigation into the matter is completed. It is confirmed the investigation would be undertaken in conjunction with Willie Hofmeyr's Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
4 August 2010
Journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika is arrested for allegedly being in possession of a fake letter of resignation from Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza. His arrest is widely seen as an attempt at intimidation relating to the original report appearing in the Sunday Times. He is held in Nelspruit for several days -- even after his case is thrown out of court.
October 11 2010
Director general at DPW, Siviwe Dongwana, informs Cele a new procurement process for the leasing of accommodation for the SAPS headquarters in Pretoria and Durban will be affected after an internal enquiry and independent legal advice deems the lease acquisitions to be invalid.
October 25 2010
Madonsela issues a preliminary report on the investigation, confirming her support for the new procurement process initiation.
October 31 2010
Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde replaces the former minister of public works, Geoff Doidge, in a Cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma.
November 11 2010
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces, upon obtaining legal advice from the Office of the State Attorney on the lease agreement with regards to the Middestad building, that the lease is enforceable.
December 8 2010
DPW announces the suspension of Dongwana on charges in relation to insubordination, dereliction of duty, failure to discharge official duties and bringing the department into disrepute.
February 22 2011
Madonsela releases an initial report into the matter entitled: Against the Rules -- with specific reference to the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria. The report lists a number of irregularities in the leasing process.
March 2 2011
The offices of the Public Protector are visited by members of the SAPS crime intelligence unit, allegedly regarding Madonsela's investigations into Cele. Police later deny it was a raid.
March 10 2011
Madonsela announces she will not revisit findings in her report, despite being asked to do so by Mahlangu-Nkabinde.
June 10 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces a moratorium on all DPW tenders to "root out corruption". The move is slammed by the media and opposition parties and labeled as political opportunism.
June 17 2011
Shabangu calls a press briefing in Pretoria to "set the record straight" and defends the leasing deals, accusing "white capitalists" of accusing him of shady deals because he is a successful black businessman.
June 18 2011
Dongwana tells the media he feared for his safety and that of his family as he felt he was pressured into approving two lease deals.
June 21 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces her intention to take the matter regarding the leases to court to pronounce legality.
July 6 2011
A shock report is published by the Star newspaper about Madonsela’s imminent arrest on charges of alleged corruption during her tenure many years before as commissioner at the South African Law Reform Commission.
July 6 2011
The Star report is published the same day as a scheduled press briefing by Madonsela about the police leases and other matters. The report is criticised as a political ploy related to Madonsela's investigations into the leases. The protector vows to continue in her investigations into the leases.
July 7 2011
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe throws his weight behind Madonsela, announcing that she did not break any laws when her company offered services to the justice department while she worked for the South Africa Law Reform Commission. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa also announces that he has no knowledge of an imminent arrest, after consulting with Cele, and the Zuma makes his support clear as well.
July 11 2011
It is confirmed that the head of the SIU, Willie Hofmeyr, is being investigated by the Serious Economic Offences Unit for reportedly flouting supply-chain and procurement procedures in the awarding of a tender to refurbish SIU offices in Pretoria
July 14 2011
Madonsela releases a second report into the leasing scandal -- with specific reference to the Transnet building in Durban -- entitled: Against the rules too. The report finds serious fault with Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Cele during the acquisition and implementation of the leases and calls for serious remedial action. The pair are slammed for their lack of cooperation during the investigation.
July 15 to 17 2011
The weekend media announce the report as a watershed moment for Zuma, which will test his earlier support and possibly force him to take action.
July 18 2011
Cele announces a press briefing for July 19 to respond to findings by the Public Protector that his actions in connection with the two controversial building leases were unlawful, improper and constituted maladministration. The briefing is then postponed to July 21.
July 20 2011
Cele again cancels the press briefing, scheduled for the following day.
Source: Mail & Guardian
October 2009
Advocate Thuli Madonsela is announced as South Africa's new Public Protector -- South Africa's third since 1994. She replaces Lawrence Mushwana, who had a dubious record in connection with the Oilgate scandal.
M&G editor in chief Nic Dawes tells you everything you need to know about Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report into police leasing deals. Will the president take action? What's next for Madonsela? Watch our video analysis and find out.
Complaints are lodged by Paul Hoffman of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa and Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus with the Public Protector in connection with a Sunday Times report alleging improper procurement in the leasing of office accommodation for the South African Police Services (SAPS) in the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria and the Transnet Building in Durban. These complaints originated from a newspaper article published on August 1 2010 alleging improper conduct and maladministration by police National Commissioner Bheki Cele and the Department of Public Works (DPW). The combined value of the leases amounts to over R1.7bn and is entered into between the South African Police Service and controversial property vendor Roux Shabangu.
August 3 2010
Madonsela requests Cele and officials at DPW to cease with implementation of the said leases until an investigation into the matter is completed. It is confirmed the investigation would be undertaken in conjunction with Willie Hofmeyr's Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
4 August 2010
Journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika is arrested for allegedly being in possession of a fake letter of resignation from Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza. His arrest is widely seen as an attempt at intimidation relating to the original report appearing in the Sunday Times. He is held in Nelspruit for several days -- even after his case is thrown out of court.
October 11 2010
Director general at DPW, Siviwe Dongwana, informs Cele a new procurement process for the leasing of accommodation for the SAPS headquarters in Pretoria and Durban will be affected after an internal enquiry and independent legal advice deems the lease acquisitions to be invalid.
October 25 2010
Madonsela issues a preliminary report on the investigation, confirming her support for the new procurement process initiation.
October 31 2010
Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde replaces the former minister of public works, Geoff Doidge, in a Cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma.
November 11 2010
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces, upon obtaining legal advice from the Office of the State Attorney on the lease agreement with regards to the Middestad building, that the lease is enforceable.
December 8 2010
DPW announces the suspension of Dongwana on charges in relation to insubordination, dereliction of duty, failure to discharge official duties and bringing the department into disrepute.
February 22 2011
Madonsela releases an initial report into the matter entitled: Against the Rules -- with specific reference to the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria. The report lists a number of irregularities in the leasing process.
March 2 2011
The offices of the Public Protector are visited by members of the SAPS crime intelligence unit, allegedly regarding Madonsela's investigations into Cele. Police later deny it was a raid.
March 10 2011
Madonsela announces she will not revisit findings in her report, despite being asked to do so by Mahlangu-Nkabinde.
June 10 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces a moratorium on all DPW tenders to "root out corruption". The move is slammed by the media and opposition parties and labeled as political opportunism.
June 17 2011
Shabangu calls a press briefing in Pretoria to "set the record straight" and defends the leasing deals, accusing "white capitalists" of accusing him of shady deals because he is a successful black businessman.
June 18 2011
Dongwana tells the media he feared for his safety and that of his family as he felt he was pressured into approving two lease deals.
June 21 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces her intention to take the matter regarding the leases to court to pronounce legality.
July 6 2011
A shock report is published by the Star newspaper about Madonsela’s imminent arrest on charges of alleged corruption during her tenure many years before as commissioner at the South African Law Reform Commission.
July 6 2011
The Star report is published the same day as a scheduled press briefing by Madonsela about the police leases and other matters. The report is criticised as a political ploy related to Madonsela's investigations into the leases. The protector vows to continue in her investigations into the leases.
July 7 2011
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe throws his weight behind Madonsela, announcing that she did not break any laws when her company offered services to the justice department while she worked for the South Africa Law Reform Commission. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa also announces that he has no knowledge of an imminent arrest, after consulting with Cele, and the Zuma makes his support clear as well.
July 11 2011
It is confirmed that the head of the SIU, Willie Hofmeyr, is being investigated by the Serious Economic Offences Unit for reportedly flouting supply-chain and procurement procedures in the awarding of a tender to refurbish SIU offices in Pretoria
July 14 2011
Madonsela releases a second report into the leasing scandal -- with specific reference to the Transnet building in Durban -- entitled: Against the rules too. The report finds serious fault with Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Cele during the acquisition and implementation of the leases and calls for serious remedial action. The pair are slammed for their lack of cooperation during the investigation.
July 15 to 17 2011
The weekend media announce the report as a watershed moment for Zuma, which will test his earlier support and possibly force him to take action.
July 18 2011
Cele announces a press briefing for July 19 to respond to findings by the Public Protector that his actions in connection with the two controversial building leases were unlawful, improper and constituted maladministration. The briefing is then postponed to July 21.
July 20 2011
Cele again cancels the press briefing, scheduled for the following day.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Crime intelligence raids Protector's office
Crime intelligence officials raided the office of the Public Protector in Pretoria on Wednesday evening in an operation that was not sanctioned by the Hawks, its spokesperson Mcintosh Polela said on Thursday. "What happened is that there was a raid at the office of the Public Protector last night by the crime intelligence," Polela said. "We condemn the raid and we didn't sanction it and we area launching an investigation to deal with the people that are responsible."
Polela said there was a "belief" that officials were looking for documents related to the Public Protector's investigation into police National Commissioner General Bheki Cele. "The belief is they were looking for documents that Cele was refused access to during the investigation by the Public Protector."
He said the Hawks were concerned about the incident. "We need to emphasise that we are concerned that it is going to be seen as an intimidation of the office of the Public Protector and we need to put it on record that we respect and support the office of the Public Protector."
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela last month issued a damning report against Cele that he allegedly unlawfully authorised a lease agreement for South African Police Service offices in Pretoria. Last month Madonsela said she found that "the accounting officer" of the South African Police Service (SAPS) was guilty of improper conduct when police authorised an alleged R500-million lease for the Sanlam Middestad Building in Pretoria. She later said this was Cele. She found that the accounting officer of the public works department was also guilty of improper conduct and maladministration. Madonsela found invalid the lease between the Department of Public Works and property tycoon Roux Shabangu's Roux Property Fund.
She said that although Cele did not sign the lease, he did sign a memorandum dated May 10 2010, which authorised funding for the lease. Cele has denied any wrongdoing.
The Protector's spokesperson declined to comment immediately, saying he was drafting a statement. "Right now, we are still working on the official comment," said Oupa Segalwe. "I can't just say things without agreeing on an approach." - Sapa
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Polela said there was a "belief" that officials were looking for documents related to the Public Protector's investigation into police National Commissioner General Bheki Cele. "The belief is they were looking for documents that Cele was refused access to during the investigation by the Public Protector."
He said the Hawks were concerned about the incident. "We need to emphasise that we are concerned that it is going to be seen as an intimidation of the office of the Public Protector and we need to put it on record that we respect and support the office of the Public Protector."
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela last month issued a damning report against Cele that he allegedly unlawfully authorised a lease agreement for South African Police Service offices in Pretoria. Last month Madonsela said she found that "the accounting officer" of the South African Police Service (SAPS) was guilty of improper conduct when police authorised an alleged R500-million lease for the Sanlam Middestad Building in Pretoria. She later said this was Cele. She found that the accounting officer of the public works department was also guilty of improper conduct and maladministration. Madonsela found invalid the lease between the Department of Public Works and property tycoon Roux Shabangu's Roux Property Fund.
She said that although Cele did not sign the lease, he did sign a memorandum dated May 10 2010, which authorised funding for the lease. Cele has denied any wrongdoing.
The Protector's spokesperson declined to comment immediately, saying he was drafting a statement. "Right now, we are still working on the official comment," said Oupa Segalwe. "I can't just say things without agreeing on an approach." - Sapa
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Cele snubs Public Protector deadline
The Public Protector has threatened to release the preliminary findings on an investigation involving a controversial R500m property deal signed by the police chief General Bheki Cele after the contract was awarded to a billionaire businessman. A clearly disappointed advocate Thuli Madonsela told The New Age yesterday that she had sent her draft report to the SA Police Services (Saps), the Treasury and Public Works Department in early December for comment. But none of the departments had responded to the findings of the Public Protector by Monday, which was the deadline set. “I will go ahead and release the findings to the public if they did not meet my new deadline of January 21,” Madonsela said.
The Public Protector conducted the investigation together with the Special Investigating Unit, headed by Willie Hofmeyr, after a complaint laid by Paul Hoffman, the director of the South African Institute for Accountability.
Madonsela said her investigators have held two interviews with Cele on the procurement processes that were followed in the controversial deal. Asked about the findings against Cele in the report, Madonsela declined to comment further. “I am considering adverse findings against either Public Works or the Saps and my final determination will depend on the information or evidence that may come through from their comments. “We did have a meeting with (Cele) and we discussed broadly the (procurement) process and a few days later we had a lengthy interview with him.”
The Public Protector’s report into the R500m property deal has angered many senior police officials, in particular Cele, who has since appointed Bowman & Gilfillan Attorneys, one of the biggest law firms in the country, to scrutinise Madonsela’s report. According to a senior police source, Cele sought private counsel despite having state attorneys and legal advisors at his disposal. The source indicated that Cele intended to challenge Madonsela’s ruling against the police on the procurement procedures that were followed to clinch the deal. “They’ve now brought in a firm of attorneys and they’ve asked them to bring in senior counsel,” said the source.
Cele signed the deal to move Saps top police brass to businessman Roux Shabangu’s building almost two months before the billionaire bought it. This comes as Nedbank, which is financing the purchase of Middestad building in Pretoria by Shabangu, is considering to pull out of the deal. Nedbank’s Ken Reynolds confirmed yesterday that the bank had asked for a copy of Madonsela’s draft report. But he denied that this was because they wanted to pull out of the property deal. “We are just making sure that whatever investigation that has happened there was nothing irregular (about the deal),” Reynolds said. “We are just covering ourselves. We’ve asked for the report and we have not been given it.” Just weeks after details of the controversial deal were published former Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge announced that the deal had been put on ice to allow for Madonsela and Hofmeyr to investigate.
Cele’s office yesterday said the general’s decision to enlist the services of legal big guns to defend himself against the allegations contained in the report was his constitutional right. “The South African Police Service is entitled, like everyone else, to the best available legal advice,” said Maj-Gen Nonkululeko Mbatha. She said the reason Cele missed the deadline to respond to Madonsela’s report was for him “to give the report adequate and considered scrutiny”. “The public protector has more than four months to compile the report.” she said.
Source: The New Age
The Public Protector conducted the investigation together with the Special Investigating Unit, headed by Willie Hofmeyr, after a complaint laid by Paul Hoffman, the director of the South African Institute for Accountability.
Madonsela said her investigators have held two interviews with Cele on the procurement processes that were followed in the controversial deal. Asked about the findings against Cele in the report, Madonsela declined to comment further. “I am considering adverse findings against either Public Works or the Saps and my final determination will depend on the information or evidence that may come through from their comments. “We did have a meeting with (Cele) and we discussed broadly the (procurement) process and a few days later we had a lengthy interview with him.”
The Public Protector’s report into the R500m property deal has angered many senior police officials, in particular Cele, who has since appointed Bowman & Gilfillan Attorneys, one of the biggest law firms in the country, to scrutinise Madonsela’s report. According to a senior police source, Cele sought private counsel despite having state attorneys and legal advisors at his disposal. The source indicated that Cele intended to challenge Madonsela’s ruling against the police on the procurement procedures that were followed to clinch the deal. “They’ve now brought in a firm of attorneys and they’ve asked them to bring in senior counsel,” said the source.
Cele signed the deal to move Saps top police brass to businessman Roux Shabangu’s building almost two months before the billionaire bought it. This comes as Nedbank, which is financing the purchase of Middestad building in Pretoria by Shabangu, is considering to pull out of the deal. Nedbank’s Ken Reynolds confirmed yesterday that the bank had asked for a copy of Madonsela’s draft report. But he denied that this was because they wanted to pull out of the property deal. “We are just making sure that whatever investigation that has happened there was nothing irregular (about the deal),” Reynolds said. “We are just covering ourselves. We’ve asked for the report and we have not been given it.” Just weeks after details of the controversial deal were published former Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge announced that the deal had been put on ice to allow for Madonsela and Hofmeyr to investigate.
Cele’s office yesterday said the general’s decision to enlist the services of legal big guns to defend himself against the allegations contained in the report was his constitutional right. “The South African Police Service is entitled, like everyone else, to the best available legal advice,” said Maj-Gen Nonkululeko Mbatha. She said the reason Cele missed the deadline to respond to Madonsela’s report was for him “to give the report adequate and considered scrutiny”. “The public protector has more than four months to compile the report.” she said.
Source: The New Age
Monday, September 13, 2010
Cele landlord faces ruin
PRETORIA businessman Roux Shabangu says he faces financial ruin while investigations into the leasing of his two buildings in the city and in Durban to the SA Police Service continue. Speaking to Sowetan at his offices in Centurion, Shabangu said he was losing R10 million a month while the Special Investigations Unit and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela investigated if there were any irregularities in the leases signed between him and the SAPS.
President Jacob Zuma ordered the investigations last month following a public outcry about General Bheki Cele having authorised the leases - R500 million for the Sanlam Middestad Centre in Pretoria and the Transnet Building in Durban for more than R200 million - without tenders. Shabangu said as far as he was concerned the lease agreements he signed with the Department of Public Works were binding and he would go to court. "There is no turning back. I can't go back to the bank and the seller and say I'm sorry the deal fell through. "The contractors are already on site and have done more than 60 percent of the work. Unfortunately, we could not stop the work. "But how is it possible that all leases are legitimate except mine? This despite the fact that 80 percent of leases signed by the DPW followed the same procedure?" Shabangu asked.
He said he was paying R3 million and R5 million for the bonds. He had also set aside R2 million for renovations. The SAPS were supposed to move in in November. The media-shy billionaire, with interests in property and mining, said the bank was already threatening him with legal action because he could not honour contractual obligations. He said he started negotiating the leases before Cele took over. Shabangu said he met General Hamilton Hlela who told him the police were looking to build their own headquarters and not rent anymore. "After making a presentation to Hlela and his colleagues, he told me he liked it but it had to go through several processes including Department of Public Works. I then went to the seller and paid a deposit of R1 million before I even signed the deeds of sale," he said.
The Sunday Times reported last month that Shabangu had bought the property shortly before it was leased by the department for the police. He said he bought the building in April and the lease was signed on July 20 between the lawyers of the department and Roux Property Fund. On July 26 the department confirmed that everything was above board. It reads: "This letter serves to confirm that the Department of Public Works has complied with all the internal processes..." But on August 10 he received another letter from the department's director-general Siviwe Dongwana stating the lease had been suspended pending an investigation. "The department now has reason to believe that not all the procurement processes were followed," says part of the letter.
Shabangu said the department could not reverse the process. "That could be a serious legal issue and a financial disaster on the department's side because they entered into a legal and binding agreement with the Roux Property Fund," he said.
Source: The Sowetan
President Jacob Zuma ordered the investigations last month following a public outcry about General Bheki Cele having authorised the leases - R500 million for the Sanlam Middestad Centre in Pretoria and the Transnet Building in Durban for more than R200 million - without tenders. Shabangu said as far as he was concerned the lease agreements he signed with the Department of Public Works were binding and he would go to court. "There is no turning back. I can't go back to the bank and the seller and say I'm sorry the deal fell through. "The contractors are already on site and have done more than 60 percent of the work. Unfortunately, we could not stop the work. "But how is it possible that all leases are legitimate except mine? This despite the fact that 80 percent of leases signed by the DPW followed the same procedure?" Shabangu asked.
He said he was paying R3 million and R5 million for the bonds. He had also set aside R2 million for renovations. The SAPS were supposed to move in in November. The media-shy billionaire, with interests in property and mining, said the bank was already threatening him with legal action because he could not honour contractual obligations. He said he started negotiating the leases before Cele took over. Shabangu said he met General Hamilton Hlela who told him the police were looking to build their own headquarters and not rent anymore. "After making a presentation to Hlela and his colleagues, he told me he liked it but it had to go through several processes including Department of Public Works. I then went to the seller and paid a deposit of R1 million before I even signed the deeds of sale," he said.
The Sunday Times reported last month that Shabangu had bought the property shortly before it was leased by the department for the police. He said he bought the building in April and the lease was signed on July 20 between the lawyers of the department and Roux Property Fund. On July 26 the department confirmed that everything was above board. It reads: "This letter serves to confirm that the Department of Public Works has complied with all the internal processes..." But on August 10 he received another letter from the department's director-general Siviwe Dongwana stating the lease had been suspended pending an investigation. "The department now has reason to believe that not all the procurement processes were followed," says part of the letter.
Shabangu said the department could not reverse the process. "That could be a serious legal issue and a financial disaster on the department's side because they entered into a legal and binding agreement with the Roux Property Fund," he said.
Source: The Sowetan
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Police new HQ building lease on hold
The lease transaction to rent another building for R500 million for a police head office in Pretoria has been put on hold, public works minister Geoff Doidge said on Tuesday.
On August 2, the FF Plus asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate the public works department and Police Commissioner Bheki Cele's rental contract for buildings owned by Roux Shabangu.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Doidge said when the 2008/09 audit report was released last year, the department held a press briefing to brief the media on the work it was doing in reviewing its supply chain management processes. And in particular, the department's entire lease portfolio. More recently, and concurrent to the department's own work in this regard, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was also conducting a broader investigation, which included the department's lease portfolio, he said. "Further to this, the Office of the Public Protector has served the department of public works with a communique requesting specific information regarding this specific case for the purpose of its own separate investigation." Consequently, the implementation of the lease in question was being "held in abeyance to allow space for the processes of all these investigations to be proceeded with", Doidge said.
In a statement later, FF Plus spokesman Pieter Groenewald welcomed the move. "The fact that the Minister has put this contract on hold is welcomed." The FF Plus asked Madonsela to not only investigate the contravention of rules and regulations regarding tenders, but to also to investigate whether a second building, which had to serve as another police head office, was really needed. "A second building is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers' money. The R500 million could rather have been used to appoint more police members and increase visible policing," Groenewald said. He told Sapa Madonsela had indicated she would conclude her investigation as early as September.
The Sunday Times reported on August 1, that Cele signed the deal to move the police's top brass - including Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa - to Shabangu's 18-storey building almost two months before he bought it. The newspaper said the deal never went out to tender, in breach of Treasury regulations that all contracts over R500,000 must go through a competitive bid process.
Source: IoL
On August 2, the FF Plus asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate the public works department and Police Commissioner Bheki Cele's rental contract for buildings owned by Roux Shabangu.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Doidge said when the 2008/09 audit report was released last year, the department held a press briefing to brief the media on the work it was doing in reviewing its supply chain management processes. And in particular, the department's entire lease portfolio. More recently, and concurrent to the department's own work in this regard, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was also conducting a broader investigation, which included the department's lease portfolio, he said. "Further to this, the Office of the Public Protector has served the department of public works with a communique requesting specific information regarding this specific case for the purpose of its own separate investigation." Consequently, the implementation of the lease in question was being "held in abeyance to allow space for the processes of all these investigations to be proceeded with", Doidge said.
In a statement later, FF Plus spokesman Pieter Groenewald welcomed the move. "The fact that the Minister has put this contract on hold is welcomed." The FF Plus asked Madonsela to not only investigate the contravention of rules and regulations regarding tenders, but to also to investigate whether a second building, which had to serve as another police head office, was really needed. "A second building is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers' money. The R500 million could rather have been used to appoint more police members and increase visible policing," Groenewald said. He told Sapa Madonsela had indicated she would conclude her investigation as early as September.
The Sunday Times reported on August 1, that Cele signed the deal to move the police's top brass - including Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa - to Shabangu's 18-storey building almost two months before he bought it. The newspaper said the deal never went out to tender, in breach of Treasury regulations that all contracts over R500,000 must go through a competitive bid process.
Source: IoL
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Cele's dodgy R500m deal likely to face two probes
A R500-million deal to move police top brass to a building owned by a politically connected billionaire - without a public tender process - is likely to face two probes. The Public Protector's office this week confirmed it was investigating the lease, while the corruption-busting Special Investigating Unit has launched one of its "biggest ever" probes into irregular government leases worth billions of rands.
The deal - exposed by the Sunday Times last week - will involve moving police headquarters to a building owned by Roux Shabangu at a cost to taxpayers of over R500-million, without following normal tender procedures; it is expected to form part of the SIU probe. The SIU would neither confirm nor deny this, saying it was probing possible irregularities in "numerous leases negotiated by DPW (the Department of Public Works) ... some of which involve significant amounts". The SIU is an elite unit that fights corruption through forensic investigations and follows up with litigation to retrieve public funds.
Both Shabangu and police chief General Bheki Cele, who signed off on the proposed financial terms of the deal, sent threatening letters to the Sunday Times this week in an apparent bid to gag the newspaper from publishing further details of the dodgy deal - which has raised eyebrows not only due to the lack of a tender, but also because the SAPS signed a 10-year lease with Shabangu while it still has a 10-year lease on its existing head office, Wachthuis. The SIU said the investigation into government leases was sparked by a request from the minister of public works, Geoff Doidge, to look into "serious concerns he had regarding procurement processes in the department", a spokesman said on Friday. "The Department of Public Works investigation will be one of the biggest ever launched by the SIU," the spokesman said.
This week Public Protector Thuli Madonsela launched an investigation into the SAPS lease, responding to a complaint lodged by the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa. "I hope to be in a position to issue my report at the beginning of September," she said in a letter sent to the institute on Tuesday.
Shabangu was not involved in any "underhanded dealings" in clinching the deal, his lawyer, Natalie Visagie, said on Friday. "My client had no interaction or contact with Cele at all. The allegation that Cele signed the lease is completely false. "The building was sold to my client and it was a condition of the sale that my client would obtain SAPS as a lessee."
Although Shabangu initially denied his political connections, his lawyer said that "President (Jacob) Zuma is a friend of long standing of my client", but insisted "to the best of my client's knowledge, Zuma did not bring to bear any political influence (on awarding the lease)". Cele, meanwhile, has insisted that the Department of Public Works had exonerated him of any wrongdoing by pointing out that the lease did not need to go out to tender because it was a negotiated contract. He also said it was "misleading" and "incorrect" to say he had clinched the deal with Shabangu. Cele said he simply signed a "needs assessment" because the SAPS headquarters "was not big enough for it to carry out its administrative functions". "With that his role as the accounting officer of the SAPS ended," his office said. "The Department of Public Works then took over the process."
But documents in the Sunday Times's possession show that on June 1 Cele signed off on the proposed financial terms of the lease. The documents, while not the final lease issued, consist of an offer document headed "Agreement of Lease" containing Shabangu's detailed proposed rentals, and a document signed off by Cele entitled "Actual cost calculations: leasing of properties to accommodate government departments", largely reflecting the same numbers.
This week neither public works nor the SAPS could adequately explain why the R500-million deal did not go out to public tender - as required by Treasury rules. The rules require all government contracts over R500000 to go through a competitive bid process. If a service is needed really urgently, departments are allowed to negotiate directly with a contractor. But only if they've given good reasons, which must be as a result of unforeseen circumstances, including "a catastrophic event".
A government official familiar with tender compliance rules, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said contracts were typically negotiated directly only after an open bidding process had failed to produce a suitable candidate. Accommodation crunches caused by bad planning would result in short-term emergency solutions - not 10-year leases, he said. "On what basis is the relocation of an entire building urgent? You don't have to move 500 people quickly. Where is the case for urgency?"
Attempts to get answers from public works proved fruitless. "I don't want to talk to the Sunday Times ever again," shouted spokesman Lucky Nchalibane, referring all queries to special projects deputy director-general Mandla Mabuza. But Mabuza failed to explain why the department decided not to follow normal tender procedures.
This week Cele's office also refused to supply reasons why the move was deemed so urgent it warranted dispensing with normal tender processes, or documents to support his claims, including the needs assessment he claimed was the last document he signed. "After an appropriate apology, retraction and correction are published, we will consider whether to make available to you the information that has been requested," said a Major-General Julius Molefe. "In the circumstances you leave General Cele with no option but to seek proper redress through other means provided by the law."
Visagie also threatened to hold the Sunday Times liable for any damages suffered by Shabangu, if another deal he was planning to clinch with the SAPS - for renting a building in Durban - fell through because of negative publicity.
Source: Times Live
The deal - exposed by the Sunday Times last week - will involve moving police headquarters to a building owned by Roux Shabangu at a cost to taxpayers of over R500-million, without following normal tender procedures; it is expected to form part of the SIU probe. The SIU would neither confirm nor deny this, saying it was probing possible irregularities in "numerous leases negotiated by DPW (the Department of Public Works) ... some of which involve significant amounts". The SIU is an elite unit that fights corruption through forensic investigations and follows up with litigation to retrieve public funds.
Both Shabangu and police chief General Bheki Cele, who signed off on the proposed financial terms of the deal, sent threatening letters to the Sunday Times this week in an apparent bid to gag the newspaper from publishing further details of the dodgy deal - which has raised eyebrows not only due to the lack of a tender, but also because the SAPS signed a 10-year lease with Shabangu while it still has a 10-year lease on its existing head office, Wachthuis. The SIU said the investigation into government leases was sparked by a request from the minister of public works, Geoff Doidge, to look into "serious concerns he had regarding procurement processes in the department", a spokesman said on Friday. "The Department of Public Works investigation will be one of the biggest ever launched by the SIU," the spokesman said.
This week Public Protector Thuli Madonsela launched an investigation into the SAPS lease, responding to a complaint lodged by the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa. "I hope to be in a position to issue my report at the beginning of September," she said in a letter sent to the institute on Tuesday.
Shabangu was not involved in any "underhanded dealings" in clinching the deal, his lawyer, Natalie Visagie, said on Friday. "My client had no interaction or contact with Cele at all. The allegation that Cele signed the lease is completely false. "The building was sold to my client and it was a condition of the sale that my client would obtain SAPS as a lessee."
Although Shabangu initially denied his political connections, his lawyer said that "President (Jacob) Zuma is a friend of long standing of my client", but insisted "to the best of my client's knowledge, Zuma did not bring to bear any political influence (on awarding the lease)". Cele, meanwhile, has insisted that the Department of Public Works had exonerated him of any wrongdoing by pointing out that the lease did not need to go out to tender because it was a negotiated contract. He also said it was "misleading" and "incorrect" to say he had clinched the deal with Shabangu. Cele said he simply signed a "needs assessment" because the SAPS headquarters "was not big enough for it to carry out its administrative functions". "With that his role as the accounting officer of the SAPS ended," his office said. "The Department of Public Works then took over the process."
But documents in the Sunday Times's possession show that on June 1 Cele signed off on the proposed financial terms of the lease. The documents, while not the final lease issued, consist of an offer document headed "Agreement of Lease" containing Shabangu's detailed proposed rentals, and a document signed off by Cele entitled "Actual cost calculations: leasing of properties to accommodate government departments", largely reflecting the same numbers.
This week neither public works nor the SAPS could adequately explain why the R500-million deal did not go out to public tender - as required by Treasury rules. The rules require all government contracts over R500000 to go through a competitive bid process. If a service is needed really urgently, departments are allowed to negotiate directly with a contractor. But only if they've given good reasons, which must be as a result of unforeseen circumstances, including "a catastrophic event".
A government official familiar with tender compliance rules, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said contracts were typically negotiated directly only after an open bidding process had failed to produce a suitable candidate. Accommodation crunches caused by bad planning would result in short-term emergency solutions - not 10-year leases, he said. "On what basis is the relocation of an entire building urgent? You don't have to move 500 people quickly. Where is the case for urgency?"
Attempts to get answers from public works proved fruitless. "I don't want to talk to the Sunday Times ever again," shouted spokesman Lucky Nchalibane, referring all queries to special projects deputy director-general Mandla Mabuza. But Mabuza failed to explain why the department decided not to follow normal tender procedures.
This week Cele's office also refused to supply reasons why the move was deemed so urgent it warranted dispensing with normal tender processes, or documents to support his claims, including the needs assessment he claimed was the last document he signed. "After an appropriate apology, retraction and correction are published, we will consider whether to make available to you the information that has been requested," said a Major-General Julius Molefe. "In the circumstances you leave General Cele with no option but to seek proper redress through other means provided by the law."
Visagie also threatened to hold the Sunday Times liable for any damages suffered by Shabangu, if another deal he was planning to clinch with the SAPS - for renting a building in Durban - fell through because of negative publicity.
Source: Times Live
Senior policeman's startling admission: Arrest was political
There is mounting evidence that political pressure lay behind the arrest this week of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika, despite furious denials from police top brass. A senior police official close to the case admitted yesterday that police were feeling the heat from ANC politicians to crack down on wa Afrika, because of his reporting. "Ja - it's political pressure," he told the Sunday Times.
Yesterday, Mabutho Sithole, a spokesman for Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza, confirmed the premier had laid the initial complaint, at the Kabokweni police station in Nelspruit, which culminated in wa Afrika's arrest. Mabuza, a controversial figure in Mpumalanga, has been the subject of various articles in the Sunday Times and other publications.
The complaint was sparked by a letter faxed to the Sunday Times, in which Mabuza supposedly states his intention to resign as premier. Mabuza insisted the letter was a forgery and that he had no intention of resigning. "He (Mabuza) complained to the police here at Kabokweni after we got a copy of the letter and received information that there were people in possession of a letter bearing his name and signature," said Sithole.
Wa Afrika was arrested at 11.15am on Wednesday outside the Sunday Times building in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Minutes earlier Sunday Times lawyer Renier Spies had been negotiating with Kabokweni station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Mabasa at Rosebank police station not to arrest wa Afrika at his office, but rather to allow the journalist to hand himself over at the station. "In the meantime (Mabasa) contacted a 'general' whose further particulars are unknown to me, via his cellphone," said Spies. "According to (Mabasa), the general he spoke to was on his way to the station and wanted to join us." Minutes later, several police vehicles with sirens blaring pulled up alongside wa Afrika outside the Sunday Times building while he was walking to the police station. Police bundled him into an unmarked vehicle and drove off at high speed.
At 7pm on Thursday night, the Sunday Times went to the High Court in Pretoria to bring an urgent application for wa Afrika's release. Just before 10pm, acting Judge Johan Kruger ordered his immediate release following an agreement with the state. Wa Afrika was released at 10:30pm on Thursday night. He appeared in Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday on charges of fraud, forgery and uttering. He was released on bail of R5000 and is scheduled to appear again on November 8.
Spies said he was convinced there was "political pressure on (Mabasa) to effect an arrest". This is borne out by the line of questioning police adopted when interrogating wa Afrika and fellow suspect Victor Mlimi, a senior provincial government official, at the Nelspruit office of the police's provincial Organised Crime Unit on Thursday. "I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga," said wa Afrika. "That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case. "They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me."
Mlimi's lawyer, Daniel Mabunda, said his client was questioned for two hours about the ANC's provincial leadership succession battles, and which political camp he supported. "I was present when my client was asked, Are you destroying the image and integrity of the ANC in Mpumalanga? I advised my client not to answer that question. It struck me that this has more to do with politics than a criminal case."
The day before the arrest, police chief General Bheki Cele had referred to wa Afrika as a "shady journalist", in response to an article he co-authored about the police chief's involvement in clinching a R500-million lease agreement, without going to tender, with billionaire businessman Roux Shabangu. The vigour police used to pursue wa Afrika also raised eyebrows. The case was opened at Kabokweni police station on Monday and wa Afrika was arrested two days later. Police have yet to arrest anyone connected to the deaths of Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala and provincial arts and culture spokesman Sammy Mpatlanyane - both of whom appeared on an alleged hit list that emerged last year . Mohlala was gunned down outside his house by three masked men in January 2009 in Kanyamazane township outside Nelspruit. Mpatlanyane was shot in his Nelspruit home in January 2010. "Those murders are still under investigation," Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi told the Sunday Times yesterday.
The visible lack of progress in these cases contrasts with the swift action taken against wa Afrika, one of the journalists who exposed the alleged hit list. Cele's spokesman, Nonkululeko Mbatha, told the Sunday Times yesterday "the semblance and impressions you have are not factual". "Police have instituted a probe which is ongoing and appealed to members of the public who might have information ... to come to the fore." Asked about the negative impression created by the police's heavy-handed action against wa Afrika, she said: "I cannot undo that impression but the fact of the matter is no one is immune from investigation of what is suspicious of criminal nature. Lastly, insinuations about a directive issued by the general (Cele) to apprehend or intimidate the journalist are incorrect and a figment of imagination."
Mabuza's spokesman also denied exerting any political pressure on police, or that the arrest was an attempt to intimidate wa Afrika and derail his investigative reporting on the murders.
Source: Times Live
Yesterday, Mabutho Sithole, a spokesman for Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza, confirmed the premier had laid the initial complaint, at the Kabokweni police station in Nelspruit, which culminated in wa Afrika's arrest. Mabuza, a controversial figure in Mpumalanga, has been the subject of various articles in the Sunday Times and other publications.
The complaint was sparked by a letter faxed to the Sunday Times, in which Mabuza supposedly states his intention to resign as premier. Mabuza insisted the letter was a forgery and that he had no intention of resigning. "He (Mabuza) complained to the police here at Kabokweni after we got a copy of the letter and received information that there were people in possession of a letter bearing his name and signature," said Sithole.
Wa Afrika was arrested at 11.15am on Wednesday outside the Sunday Times building in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Minutes earlier Sunday Times lawyer Renier Spies had been negotiating with Kabokweni station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Mabasa at Rosebank police station not to arrest wa Afrika at his office, but rather to allow the journalist to hand himself over at the station. "In the meantime (Mabasa) contacted a 'general' whose further particulars are unknown to me, via his cellphone," said Spies. "According to (Mabasa), the general he spoke to was on his way to the station and wanted to join us." Minutes later, several police vehicles with sirens blaring pulled up alongside wa Afrika outside the Sunday Times building while he was walking to the police station. Police bundled him into an unmarked vehicle and drove off at high speed.
At 7pm on Thursday night, the Sunday Times went to the High Court in Pretoria to bring an urgent application for wa Afrika's release. Just before 10pm, acting Judge Johan Kruger ordered his immediate release following an agreement with the state. Wa Afrika was released at 10:30pm on Thursday night. He appeared in Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday on charges of fraud, forgery and uttering. He was released on bail of R5000 and is scheduled to appear again on November 8.
Spies said he was convinced there was "political pressure on (Mabasa) to effect an arrest". This is borne out by the line of questioning police adopted when interrogating wa Afrika and fellow suspect Victor Mlimi, a senior provincial government official, at the Nelspruit office of the police's provincial Organised Crime Unit on Thursday. "I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga," said wa Afrika. "That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case. "They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me."
Mlimi's lawyer, Daniel Mabunda, said his client was questioned for two hours about the ANC's provincial leadership succession battles, and which political camp he supported. "I was present when my client was asked, Are you destroying the image and integrity of the ANC in Mpumalanga? I advised my client not to answer that question. It struck me that this has more to do with politics than a criminal case."
The day before the arrest, police chief General Bheki Cele had referred to wa Afrika as a "shady journalist", in response to an article he co-authored about the police chief's involvement in clinching a R500-million lease agreement, without going to tender, with billionaire businessman Roux Shabangu. The vigour police used to pursue wa Afrika also raised eyebrows. The case was opened at Kabokweni police station on Monday and wa Afrika was arrested two days later. Police have yet to arrest anyone connected to the deaths of Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala and provincial arts and culture spokesman Sammy Mpatlanyane - both of whom appeared on an alleged hit list that emerged last year . Mohlala was gunned down outside his house by three masked men in January 2009 in Kanyamazane township outside Nelspruit. Mpatlanyane was shot in his Nelspruit home in January 2010. "Those murders are still under investigation," Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi told the Sunday Times yesterday.
The visible lack of progress in these cases contrasts with the swift action taken against wa Afrika, one of the journalists who exposed the alleged hit list. Cele's spokesman, Nonkululeko Mbatha, told the Sunday Times yesterday "the semblance and impressions you have are not factual". "Police have instituted a probe which is ongoing and appealed to members of the public who might have information ... to come to the fore." Asked about the negative impression created by the police's heavy-handed action against wa Afrika, she said: "I cannot undo that impression but the fact of the matter is no one is immune from investigation of what is suspicious of criminal nature. Lastly, insinuations about a directive issued by the general (Cele) to apprehend or intimidate the journalist are incorrect and a figment of imagination."
Mabuza's spokesman also denied exerting any political pressure on police, or that the arrest was an attempt to intimidate wa Afrika and derail his investigative reporting on the murders.
Source: Times Live
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Cele in 'dodgy' deal
The police department intends to brief media this week on a press report that national police commissioner General Bheki Cele allegedly signed a "dodgy" multi-million rand property deal, a spokesman said on Sunday. "The police have taken a position to deal with the matter through a form of an inclusive media briefing," his spokesman Lindela Mashigo told Sapa in an SMS.
The Sunday Times reported that Cele had signed a R500-million property rental deal that would see police headquarters move to the 18-storey Middestad Sanlam centre in Pretoria, which was owned by billionaire businessman Roux Shabangu. According to the report the deal was not treated as a tender, violating Treasury regulations that all government contracts worth over R500 000 go through a bid process.
Shabangu allegedly signed the R500-million rental lease, which would apparently run for 10 years, with Cele on June 1, but only purchased the building on Wednesday for R220-million. The police's current headquarters was the Wachthuis building around the corner.
Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said the party intended to write to the Auditor General asking him to investigate the deal. "The National Police Commissioner has been disingenuous when questioned about the details of the deal and seems to fail to grasp that the principle of transparency is one that SAPS must strive to maintain at all times... And that the procedure of having open tender bids is there to ensure that public finances are responsibly managed."
Source: IoL
The Sunday Times reported that Cele had signed a R500-million property rental deal that would see police headquarters move to the 18-storey Middestad Sanlam centre in Pretoria, which was owned by billionaire businessman Roux Shabangu. According to the report the deal was not treated as a tender, violating Treasury regulations that all government contracts worth over R500 000 go through a bid process.
Shabangu allegedly signed the R500-million rental lease, which would apparently run for 10 years, with Cele on June 1, but only purchased the building on Wednesday for R220-million. The police's current headquarters was the Wachthuis building around the corner.
Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said the party intended to write to the Auditor General asking him to investigate the deal. "The National Police Commissioner has been disingenuous when questioned about the details of the deal and seems to fail to grasp that the principle of transparency is one that SAPS must strive to maintain at all times... And that the procedure of having open tender bids is there to ensure that public finances are responsibly managed."
Source: IoL
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