'Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde lied on Geoff Doidge'

31 July 2011 - 04:11 By MZILIKAZI WA AFRIKA, ROB ROSE and STEPHAN HOFSTATTER
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Former minister of Public Works Geoff Doidge has broken his silence on the R1.8-billion police lease scandal.

He has rejected the reasons given by his successor, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, for pushing ahead with the deals.

Doidge's comments, to set the record straight, challenge Mahlangu-Nkabinde's account to public protector Thuli Madonsela about her role in the scandal.

Doidge was fired after he tried to can the deals facilitated by police chief General Bheki Cele and involving businessman Roux Shabangu, who is close to President Jacob Zuma.

Doidge suspended the Pretoria lease after getting an independent legal opinion declaring it invalid. But, in October, Zuma replaced him with Mahlangu-Nkabinde, who promptly reinstated the leases, despite getting another legal opinion that reached the same conclusion.

This month, the public protector found Cele and Mahlangu-Nkabinde guilty of "improper" and "unlawful" conduct for their roles in the deals to lease offices in Pretoria and Durban. She also found they had broken procurement regulations, contravened Treasury rules and flouted the constitution.

Doidge, who is now the South African ambassador to Sri Lanka, told the Sunday Times that "the (public protector) reports validate the initial correct decision taken to have the leases investigated".

He said one of the reasons he suspended the R614-million Pretoria lease was because his then director-general, Siviwe Dongwana, had "found a number of inconsistencies in the first lease agreement".

Dongwana, who told Madonsela he had felt pressured by Mahlangu-Nkabinde to reinstate the lease deal, was later suspended by her.

Said Doidge: "Senior counsel opinion was sought and conclusively stated that the lease was invalid."

He also dismissed claims by Mahlangu-Nkabinde that he had failed to brief her properly about the leases.

Mahlangu-Nkabinde told Madonsela that "there was no formal handover or briefing by (Doidge), when she was appointed, on urgent matters" and that "official documents had been destroyed prior to her arrival".

Doidge denied it. "I recall four attempts to engage (her), to request opportunities to meet with her and provide a comprehensive handover. My requests went unanswered. In addition, requests from my chief of staff to hand over to the incoming chief of staff were ignored by senior management."

He said he did not know why Mahlangu-Nkabinde decided to renew the lease shortly after she was appointed. He said he put the lease on hold, in part because Madonsela had asked him to wait until her investigation had been completed.

He also revealed for the first time that his staff were escorted out of the public works offices by police after Mahlangu-Nkabinde took over from him.

"My staff complied with all instructions and co-operated fully, as they were still in the employ of public works until the end of that month. Some of my staff members were traumatised and the hostility shown to them was not justifiable."

Asked about Doidge's challenge to Mahlangu-Nkabinde's version of events, the Director- General of Public Works, Sam Vukela, referred questions to government spokesman Jimmy Manyi. However, Manyi said he couldn't comment on differences between the ministers, as Zuma was still considering Madonsela's report.

"The best thing is to wait for the outcome of the presidential process. Anything else now is just noise," he said.

Pressure has mounted on Zuma to act on Madonsela's findings. She urged Zuma to act against Mahlangu-Nkabinde and for Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa to act against Cele.

Despite opposition calls for his dismissal since Madonsela's report, Cele has cancelled two press conferences in which he said he would "respond" to Madonsela's findings.

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