Minister's refusal to answer a 'criminal act'

The refusal of the minister of public works to answer questions on her role in clinching dodgy police lease deals amounts to a criminal offence.

This is one of several damning findings in public protector Thuli Madonsela's final report on the police lease saga released this week. Against the Rules Too concludes Madonsela's investigation into dodgy police leases, worth R1.8-billion, in Pretoria and Durban with businessman Roux Shabangu, which was exposed by the Sunday Times last year.

Shabangu is an associate of President Jacob Zuma's.

The report slams minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde for losing sight of the fact that it is "a criminal offence to refuse to answer questions put to her by the public protector, without just cause", according to the Public Protector Act.

A spokesman for Madonsela said the offence carried a penalty of "up to 12 months' imprisonment".

This week, Madonsela appealed to Zuma to "do the right thing" and take action against Mahlangu-Nkabinde for "improper conduct" in ignoring two legal opinions declaring the leases invalid.

The minister's conduct "failed to meet the requisite stewardship required of her", Madonsela said.

The public protector found police chief General Bheki Cele guilty of "unlawful, improper conduct and maladministration", and recommended that the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, take action against his police commissioner and other officials.

Madonsela also rejected Cele and Mahlangu-Nkabinde's efforts to pin blame on subordinates.

Her key findings were:

• Cele personally identified the two buildings "according to documents provided";
• The police were negotiating with Shabangu to lease his buildings before the Public Works Department got involved;
• There was no justification for ignoring the tender process;
• Rentals for both buildings were hugely inflated;
• Cele signed a funding approval memo for the R1.16-billion Durban deal before his chief financial officer had even seen it;
• Moving sexual-offences and child-protection units from communities they served could not be used to justify leasing a bigger building; and
• A procurement instruction issued in March 2011 for the police's Durban headquarters was rigged to suit another building Shabangu was trying to buy.

Madonsela withdrew a proposal to blacklist Shabangu's company from doing government business when the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, told her it would be difficult without proof of fraud.

Shabangu claimed this cleared him "of any wrongdoing", but Madonsela attacked his credibility several times.

His claim that he'd bought the Durban building only after receiving a police needs analysis was "inconsistent with the documentary evidence", she found.

Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Cele refused to comment this week.