Mkhwebane denies stalling on Mokonyane and Dlamini reports

The public protector has confirmed that she has been “looking into” multiple complaints against controversial former ministers Bathabile Dlamini and Nomvula Mokonyane, but denies any suggestion that she has chosen not to prioritise these and other investigations for political reasons.

Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane is under fire from former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, who she has found to have improperly approved the early pension payout of former SA Revenue Services commissioner Ivan Pillay and in doing so, violated the constitution.

In a scathing court challenge to that report, which orders President Cyril Ramaphosa to take disciplinary action against him, Gordhan says he believes the timing of the report was “suspicious”, “politically motivated” and enabled “a renewal of the ongoing political campaign against me by proponents of ‘state capture’ and defenders of corruption”.

“I say this because there was no reason for the unseemly haste with which the report was issued on Friday,” he said. The release of the report coincided with Ramaphosa’s consideration of who should make up his new cabinet.

While facing criticism from the high court in Pretoria that she failed to exercise her responsibility to properly investigate the alleged Estina dairy project scam, which reportedly implicated then Free State premier Ace Magashule and former Free State agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane, Mkhwebane has vehemently denied that her investigations show clear evidence of bias, or favour towards certain political factions.

Her spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, says such claims are “not backed up by evidence”.

In response to questions from Business Day, Mkhwebane’s office has however confirmed that Gordhan is not the only potential cabinet minister she is investigating. But he was the only one against whom a report was issued, dating back from an anonymous complaint laid in November 2016, right before the cabinet announcement.

The public protector’s office has confirmed that former water and sanitation minister Mokonyane faces complaints — laid in July 2016 — that she was involved in the awarding of multiple irregular tenders, which include:

• The repairing of water infrastructure in the Mopani district in Limpopo, a project for which the budget escalated from R96.4m to R502.6m in a matter of three months; 
• The raising of the Hazelmere dam wall, a project which was approved in 2011 with a budget of R91m and is now projected to cost R359m, with no end date;
• The 36km pipeline between Craigieburn and Greytown, a project which is three years behind schedule and has seen its projected costs double;
• The building of the Clanwilliam dam wall, a project which has been repeatedly delayed. 

According to Mkhwebane’s office: “Evidence has been gathered on these matters and is being analysed to determine whether the matter is substantiated.”

A separate complaint has also been laid against Mokonyane over “allegations of maladministration, undue delay and procurement irregularities in the installation of 51km Nandoni-Nsami water pipeline, which resulted in the community of Giyani suffering prejudice”. 

“On this one, too, we are analysing the evidence to determine whether the matter is substantiated or not,” Segalwe said.

It appears that the public protector may be more advanced in her probe into South African Social Security Agency tender irregularities, an investigation that followed from complaints levelled against former social development minister Dlamini.

Mkhwebane’s office has confirmed that a section 7 (9) notice —which notifies people that they are implicated in a public protector investigation — was “recently issued” against unidentified officials and “we are awaiting responses from implicated parties”. It would not confirm that Dlamini had received this notice.