Nkandla: DA requests NPA’s record of decision to not prosecute D-Gs

14 June 2016

The DA will today request the record of decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to not prosecute three Public Works Directors-General (D-Gs). These D-Gs are alleged to have been responsible for allowing the costs of Nkandla to escalate to the obscene level where Jacob Zuma received luxurious home-improvements totalling R246 million.   

According to a reply from a DA parliamentary question by Police Minister, Nkosinathi Nhleko, the NPA declined to take these procurement-related criminal cases to court in July last year, and the South African public deserves a very credible explanation for this.  

According to the reply, former acting Director-General, Solly Malebye, who resigned in early 2010, was charged but never prosecuted. Former Director-General, Siviwe Dongwana, was charged over the hiring of certain contractors and former Director-General, Sam Vukela, for recruiting Bonelena Construction Enterprise and Projects and E Magubane CC, but their prosecutions have been mysteriously discontinued before reaching trial.

The fact that nothing came of these cases, as they were declared nolle prosequi (declined to prosecute) by the National Prosecuting Authority on 28 July last year, shows that the protection of Zuma’s pilfering of the state, and the actors who aided and abetted Zuma’s theft, has no bounds.

The DA will therefore request the record of the decision made by the NPA in all three cases. It is of national importance that the public receives an explanation from the NPA for this latest turn in the Nkandla scandal. Nkandla has caused too much damage to South Africa and has cost tax payers too much money already. 

On 3 August, South Africans have an opportunity to vote for change, and for a DA government that will put them first, while voting against the party that brought us Nkandla and the corruption surrounding it.

The DA will bring a government that is dedicated to public accountability. 

Issued by Patricia Kopane, DA Shadow Minister of Public Works, 14 June 2016