The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the comments made by Public Protector, Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane, indicating that the Vrede Dairy Farm investigation is in its final stages.
The DA have for long driven the issue surrounding the controversial Gupta-linked Vrede Dairy Farm Project in the Free State.
The first report by the Public Protector was set aside after successful court action by the DA, as was her appeal.
The DA now awaits the Public Protector’s second attempt at findings in this regard.
Despite the Public Protector’s ongoing investigation into alleged corruption involving the Vrede Dairy Farm project, the DA have written to Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane to seek clarity in terms of section 34 of Chapter 7 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act No 12 of 2004 (PACCA), regarding the role of former Premier of the Free State, Mr Ace Magashule and the then former MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Ms Mamiki Qabathe in several payments which were made by the Free State provincial government to a company called Estina. This Act criminalises the failure to report alleged corruption by individuals in authority.
A report received in 2013 from National Treasury into an investigation of the Vrede Dairy project indicated that “ultimately the project should be reassessed and the necessary due diligence should be completed to ensure that the project is viable. In its current form the project is not likely to yield a value for money to the State”. This should have raised serious questions on the part of the Premier of the Free State as well as the former MECs for Finance and DARD. Former Premier Magashule admitted receiving the national Treasury Report as early as 16 April 2014.
Furthermore, despite the fact that the contract between the Free State provincial government and Estina was cancelled on 12 August 2014, MECs from the DARD and the former MEC for Finance, Ms Elzabe Rockman, continued to allocate provincial funding to the project. This supports allegations of their complicity in the controversial project.
The cancellation of the agreement by the Executive Committee under Premier Ace Magashule without penalties and with the knowledge that Estina did not meet its commitments further makes them complicit in aiding and abetting Estina and their partners to escape the consequences of the irregular and illegal activities.
Due to the fact that Mr Ace Magashule and Ms Mamiki Qabathe ought to have been aware of these payments which were made after the cancellation of the agreement, they also had a duty in terms of section 34 of PACCA to report these irregularities to the South African Police Services.
With this in mind, the DA have approached the Public Protector seeking clarity regarding the interpretation of the aforesaid section and to make a finding regarding the political heads who sanctioned these irregular payments and failed to report the alleged corruption.
The DA wants to see politicians held accountable for their scandalous dealings in the Vrede Dairy Farm project, who have taken food out of the mouths of the project’s beneficiaries.
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