MINISTER NDEBELE ON GIFT RECEIVED FROM VUKUZAKHE EMERGING CONTRACTORS

The recent media reports on the above-mentioned subject refer.

I was appointed MEC for Transport in KwaZulu-Natal in 1994. As part of our departmental programmes, in 1996, we established an emerging contractors' programme for road construction called Vukuzakhe. The emerging contractors were at the time handling projects of about R50 000. Currently, some of them manage projects from R10 million up to R50 million. There are about 30 000 Vukuzakhe emerging contractors and, in the last ten years, government has allocated contracts close to R10 billion to these contractors.

I was MEC for Transport from 1994 to 2004. From 2004, I assumed the Premiership of KwaZulu-Natal, an office I held until the 5th of May 2009.

Over the last few months, I have been congratulated by several individuals and organisations for my contribution as both MEC for Transport as well as Premier. Among the people who congratulated us and acknowledged the work we did as part of the government of the province of KwaZulu-Natal were the emerging contractors, who benefited from the Vukuzakhe programme I was associated with when still MEC for Transport from 1994 to 2004.

The Vukuzakhe contractors approached me before the 2009 elections and sought a date where they could hold a function in my honour. I did advise them that I would prefer such an occasion to be held after the elections as we were all busy with the election campaign programme. I left it at that.

After the elections, they approached me again and we gave them the date of 16 May 2009.

I attended the function on 16 May which was held at Woodburn Stadium in Pietermaritzburg. I was really shocked when they presented me with an S 500 Mercedes Benz valued at about R1 million. In addition, some taxi operators who had apparently asked to also participate in the programme gave us two cattle.

I must emphasize, I never knew about these gifts, never solicited them and never expected them. In addition, when this whole function was mooted by the emerging contractors, nobody knew where I was going or whether I would be appointed Minister of Transport.

To this end, I have sought guidance from the Presidency, the Secretary of Cabinet as well as the Secretary-General of the African National Congress as I could not find precedence relating to how one can handle a gift of such magnitude.

I am aware that there is a process in government of handling gifts and conflicts of interest which is as follows:  

On conflict of interest, Clause 3 of the Executive Code of Ethics requires a member to declare any personal or private financial or business interest that the member may have in a matter that is before the Cabinet, Cabinet Committee or in relation to which the member is required to take a decision. In addition, a member must withdraw from proceedings of Cabinet or Cabinet Committee considering a matter in which a member has any personal or private or business interest, unless the President decides that the Member's interest is trivial or not relevant.

In essence, the whole input of the Code on conflict of interest relates to a Member's personal or private financial or business interest in a matter being deliberated or adjudicated by the Executive and its committees and requires declaration of such an interest.

On gifts, Clause 4 of the Code prohibits a member from soliciting or accepting a gift or benefit which is in return for favours received from the member in his or her official capacity or constitutes improper influence on the member or constitutes an attempt to influence a member in the performance of the Member's duties.

Further, a member who has received in the course of his duties a gift with a value of more that R1 000 must request permission from the President to retain or accept the gift. If permission is granted, the member can retain or accept the gift but must disclose  particulars of it in terms of the Code.

In light of the above, I have therefore advised his Excellency, the President, that I have received the gift of an S 500 Mercedes Benz valued at R1 million from Vukuzakhe emerging contractors in KwaZulu-Natal.

I would also want to state that we do not have any personal or private financial or business interest with the Vukuzakhe emerging contractor programme which would constitute any conflict of interest on our part. In addition, we have not solicited or accepted a gift or benefit that is in return for any official favours from us or been in anyway improperly influenced by any gift that may have been given to us.

Statement issued by Minister of Transport Sibusiso Ndebele, MP, May 18 2009

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