Zwane's professed ignorance in the Zondo Commission testimony is in fact arrogance

25 September 2020

Note to Editors: Click here for soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Dr Roy Jankielsohn MPL, Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature.

The noose of justice is closing around the necks of former Free State politicians such as Mosebenzi Zwane and Ace Magashule as officials are no longer willing to fall on their swords to protect their former political heads.

It is no coincidence that Mosebenzi Zwane was appointed to Departments such as Human Settlements and Agriculture and Rural Development in the Free State that resulted in the R1 billion housing and the R380 million Vrede Dairy scandals. It is becoming blatantly apparent that Zwane was handpicked to be the political head of departments that were earmarked for looting.

In his defence, Zwane’s testimony and defence at the Zondo Commission regarding the housing issue is based on ignorance of the law and government tender procedures while deliberately throwing the implicated officials under the bus of accountability. This is not new in the Free State where officials are similarly facing criminal charges in the Vrede Dairy and other allegations of corruption, while politicians have yet to be charged.

Zwane’s self-confessed ignorance of the law and the requirements for his position is a mere smoke screen, but should be cause for concern since he was promoted from a Mayor, to MEC and then to national Minister under ANC-run governments. It appears that ignorance is in all probability a requirement for promotion in the ANC. His use of ignorance is. However, tantamount to extreme arrogance as he undermines the intelligence of all those who are viewing his interrogation at the Commission.

The current Premier of the Free State, Sefora Ntombela, was former Human Settlement MEC in the Magashule administration and gave an undertaking in 2016 to investigate the R1 billion housing scandal. To date she has avoided all accountability and responsibility as the political head of the provincial government with the authority and resources to ensure investigations and accountability regarding all allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

The corruption in the Free State has ensured that the province remains one of the poorest in the country with high levels of unemployment, collapsed services and human degradation. These scandals prove how corruption makes poor people poorer.

The outrage with which Free State residents and other South Africans view the latest testimonies of both officials and politicians at the Zondo Commission is legitimate. The Free State provincial government funds have been low hanging fruit for corrupt politicians, officials and tenderpreneurs alike for more than a decade. Our people in the province want to see nothing less that politicians in orange Correctional Services overalls, and the stolen money recouped from those inside and outside of the province who have stolen it.

While there is so much controversy about the abuse of tenders, there remains one tender that will bring relief to residents of the province which is the tender for the orange overalls. The DA is willing to provide the political name tags for such overalls free of charge.

Issued by Roy Jankielsohn, Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature, 25 September 2020