Staff Reporter
Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela has handed over to the police the Public Protector’s report relating to an investigation into allegations of maladministration and the irregular awarding of a contract to remove asbestos roofs by the Department of Human Settlements.
The handover makes way for a formal investigation to begin based on the report released by the Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane last month.
“I am handing over the report . . . to the South African Police Service and . . . the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI),” said Ntombela during a brief handover ceremony in her office at OR Tambo House Tuesday afternoon.
In the report, Mkhwebane recommended, as part of the remedial action, that the premier of the Free State should report the conduct of the accounting officer of the human settlements department to the police as well as the DPCI, also known as the Hawks.
Ntombela was given 60 days to do so.
Ntombela handed the report to the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane, and Brigadier Nico Gerber, who represented the provincial head of the Hawks.
“The remaining aspects of the remedial action are being dealt with in terms of the prescribed internal processes,” she added.
The Public Protector found the provincial human settlements department guilty of irregularly awarding a contract to audit and remove asbestos roofs on houses in the province.
The contract was awarded as a joint venture to Gauteng-based Blackhead Consulting and Diamond Hill Trading towards the end of 2014.
But Mkhwebane says the department contravened several procurement laws and regulations in awarding the contract.
The actual removal of the asbestos roofs was set aside from the service level agreement without a clear explanation.
As a result, according to the Public Protector’s report, Blackhead Consulting and Diamond Hill JV merely “identified” and “assessed” about 36 000 asbestos roofs.
The asbestos roofs were not replaced but the companies still walked away with R230-million.
Of that R230 million paid to the main contractor, only R21.3 million was eventually utilised for the actual asbestos audit, according to the report.
Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Lynda Steyn told The Free Stater that they will now study the report to understand the findings and the recommendations before pursuing investigations into the matter.
“There is nothing much I can say at the moment because we now have to study the report and have a clear understanding before we can do anything,” Steyn said by telephone.