Vrede dairy project: Bail granted to suspects unacceptable

15 February 2018

The FF Plus welcomes every action presently taken against the blatant corruption and theft of millions of rands of tax payers’ money.

It is, however, extremely disturbing that the State did not oppose bail for the suspects that were arrested after a raid was conducted on the Gupta’s mansion yesterday and that the suspects have consequently been released on bail. These are the people that landed their aeroplane on the Waterkloof Air Force base. Nothing will keep them from fleeing the country, with or without passports.

The ANC allowed this corruption to continue for years without stepping in. It has taken them much too long to investigate the alleged corruption and to take action against the guilty parties.

The fact that the eight accused, Ashu Chawla, Nazeem Howa, Varun Gupta, Ronica Ragawan, Peter Thabethe, Takisi Masiteng, Sylvia Dlamini and Kamal Vasrum, the director of Estina, appeared before the court earlier today is certainly a step in the right direction, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The corrupt and dishonest political leaders that spearheaded the Vrede Dairy Project still need to be called to account.

The eight suspects are only the tip of the iceberg. The circle of involvement in jobbery at the Vrede Dairy Project stretches much wider than just these eight.

There are numerous political leaders involved in this, like the current Premier and Secretary General of the ANC, Ace Magashule, the former MEC for Agriculture in the Free State, Mosebenzi Zwane, and nearly the entire Provincial Cabinet, which includes almost all the MEC’s.

These political leaders of the ANC in the Free State defended the project for years on end, despite the opposition and the Auditor-General’s (AG) objections and they played an active role in obstructing the investigation into the project that the Legislature’s committee undertook.

We want these eight that were just as involved in the corrupt dealings in the Vrede Dairy Project, along with the political leaders that are pulling the strings, to be called to account as soon as possible.

Issued by Wouter Wessels, FF Plus MP, 15 February 2018