Cronin's apology as dodgy as Nkandla upgrades: iLIVE

27 February 2013 - 02:07 By Mosiuoa Lekota
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Jeremy Cronin. File photo.
Jeremy Cronin. File photo.
Image: Times Media

Deputy Minister of Public Works Jeremy Cronin has persisted, even in his "apology" ("Cronin apologises to Lekota in Nkandla row", February 22), to blame me for the government's failure in the Nkandla scandal.

I therefore have to place the following facts on record:

The National Key Points Act (1980) was made law by the National Party government when I was serving my first sentence on Robben Island;

Notice 432 of 2007 in the Government Gazette shows that the then minister of safety and security [Charles Nqakula] invited comment to revise that act; and

What happened to that process only [Nqakula] can explain.

Nqakula was later appointed my successor at defence after my resignation. By the time President Jacob Zuma was inaugurated, I was already president of COPE. I could not have had anything to do with accommodation and security for Zuma and his family.

Cronin is free to defend the scandal of Nkandla, but I had nothing to do with it and am fiercely critical of the unwarranted expenditure today.

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