Cele's Property Deal: DA asks Auditor-General to investigate

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be writing to the Auditor-General asking that he investigate the property deal that will see R500-million being spent on relocating the upper echelons of the police to new headquarters while the SAPS are already contractually locked into a R500-million rental deal over the next 11 years at their current premises.

While we fully believe in empowering SAPS with the resources they need to do their jobs effectively, the National Police Commissioner has been disingenuous when questioned about the details of the deal and seems to fail to grasp that the principle of transparency is one that SAPS must strive to maintain at all times and that the procedure of having open tender bids is there to ensure that public finances are responsibly managed.

Today, the Sunday Times revealed that the senior administrative staff of the SAPS, including the National Police Commissioner, Bheki Cele and Police Minister and Deputy Minister, Nathi Mthethwa and Fikile Mbalula respectively, are moving to a new building owned By Roux Shabangu, a property tycoon said to have close ties to the ANC.

There are four deeply concerning elements to this report. The first is that National Police Commissioner Cele allegedly signed the deal in the first place without following proper tender procedures as stipulated by the Department of Public Works. There may indeed be some merit in the senior police administration needing new headquarters but why not make the process open and transparent and allow external firms to bid for the property deal?

The second is the question of the National Police Commissioner's idea of his own authority. Regulations from the Department of Public Works state that all contracts over R500 000 must be put out to tender. Why does the National Police Commissioner believe he can unilaterally sign agreements that greatly exceed his financial authority as head of SAPS?

The third is that National Police Commissioner Cele apparently claims he does not even recall signing the agreement. When pressed on the matter he is reported to have said ‘Every day I sign piles and piles of documents and the lease is one of them. If there were any irregularities maybe supply chain management can answer that.'

This is deeply problematic. I am quite certain that the Commissioner does have voluminous correspondence to attend to but part of his role is to keep a tight administrative check on the management of SAPS. It is troubling then that the National Police Commissioner apparently does not recall signing this agreement, especially given that the sum of money involved could have funded another 10 000 SAPS members. Furthermore, he also seemed to be inconsistent as he defended the move to the Sunday Times in the first instance, saying more space was needed. He may be correct in saying this but we must ask, if the question of space for the police was so urgent, surely he would recall signing the agreement to remedy it - in other words, the property deal in question?

The fourth major problem is the fact that the owner of the building, Roux Shabangu, is a businessman with reputedly close ties to the Zuma administration who apparently did not even own the building in question when the agreement was signed with SAPS. This bears all the hallmarks of ANC cadres unfairly favouring their comrades in business over the principles of transparency and openness. It would seem Mr. Shabangu was given an easy and lucrative deal not only without having to fairly compete for it but apparently without, at the time, even owning the desired resource. The claim that the Durban police are to be moved to yet another of his buildings, raises equally concerning questions.

This is a serious issue of mismanagement of public finances. The DA believes in giving our police the power and resources to do their job effectively but this does not then elevate the National Police Commissioner above due process, which all public servants must adhere to. Furthermore, the National Police Commissioner should in all instances be ready to justify all expenses incurred by SAPS so that the public can be confident that the resources allocated to the broader fight against crime are being used in a responsible and efficacious manner. I will be writing to the Auditor-General requesting a full investigation so that we might determine the details of this deal, details which the National Police Commissioner seems unwilling to provide.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of police, August 1 2010

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