SCOPA needs to get to the bottom of inflated lease deal for ANC MP
The Home Affairs lease deal that will benefit Parliament's Finance Committee chairperson, Thaba Mufamadi MP, is 57% more expensive per square metre than the contract for the Department's previous building (see report).
Over the eight-year lease period, government will pay R60 million more to do business with Mufamadi's company, Manaka Property Investments, compared to its previous lease agreement. The total value of the contract is R265.5 million.
This information has been revealed in a reply to a parliamentary question submitted by the Democratic Alliance (DA). A copy of the question and reply can be seen below.
However, the Minister of Home Affairs has refused to answer parliamentary questions on how widely the tender was publicised, which other companies were shortlisted and which other properties were considered.
All matters pertaining to the tender process were referred to the Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi. This is the same Minister who will need to account to the Presidency's Monitoring and Evaluation unit for failing to respond appropriately to SCOPA about corruption and mismanagement in the Public Works Department. The disclaimer from the Auditor General reflects the dysfunctionality in his Department.
It is clear that we cannot rely on an ANC Minister to come clean on what led to an ANC MP winning this inflated contract. I will therefore be requesting the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Themba Godi, to call Minister Nxesi to the committee to answer questions on the dubious Home Affairs lease.
The building that Home Affairs moved into in November 2011 is owned by Manaka Property Investments. Besides Mufamadi, who is the majority shareholder, other shareholders include Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale and the former chairman of the Limpopo tender board, Jannie Moolman.
Mufamadi is currently under investigation by Parliament's ethics committee for potential conflicts of interest. While this investigation needs to deal with the conflict of interest around Mufamadi's role as an MP and his business with government, SCOPA must look into the circumstances of the awarding of the lease contract.
SCOPA has oversight over all public spending. It is the job of this committee to ensure that public money is not pilfered by the politically connected at the expense of the poor. The evidence suggests that the Department of Home Affairs is paying inflated rates to politically connected people for their new buildings. The Department of Public Works must explain to SCOPA how decisions on the lease of this building were made.
Statement issued by Dr Dion George MP, DA Representative on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, February 27 2012
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