'Magashule should be behind bars', Dukwana tells state capture inquiry
28 August 2019
Former Free State economic development MEC Mxolisi Dukwana has told the state capture inquiry ANC secretary general Ace Magashule is not fit for office following his alleged involvement in the asbestos eradication project.
Dukwana was testifying before inquiry chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on Wednesday.
"I submit that the involvement of Mr Magashule in this asbestos audit heist makes him unfit to hold public office or the office of the SG of the ANC," he claimed.
Dukwana told Justice Zondo that Magashule and all those who allegedly aided and abetted the heist should be behind bars.
"To date, no eradication of asbestos roofs has been carried out in any townships in the Free State … and yet R255m had been advanced to the Blackhead Consulting joint venture and R77m of state funds is a subject of litigation in our courts, and our law enforcement agencies are doing nothing," he said.
The asbestos project deal was awarded to the Diamond Hill-Blackhead Consulting joint venture by the Free State housing department in 2014.
Dukwana told Justice Zondo the appointment letter stipulated 300 000 asbestos-roofed houses would be audited, assessed and GPS-ed for R850 per unit, with R255m to be paid.
He said a quick calculation showed those involved had started with the R255m figure, which they divided by 850 to get to the 300 000-unit figure.
Dukwana added no prior assessment had been done by the department to arrive at an accurate number of units to be audited.
"If R255m was spent in the Free State alone on a purported asbestos audit, how much of the amount was from the public purse?
"I have a reasonable belief that the Free State provincial government under Mr Magashule was the only fertile ground in the country for this asbestos heist to be staged and executed."
Dukwana told Justice Zondo the Office of the Auditor-General in the Free State would be a great resource to the commission, adding the people of the Free State deserved to know the truth about the asbestos audit.
"The commission would also do well to subpoena government officials who were at the helm of this process," he said.
Although Dukwana implicated a number of people in the project, the commission has not received an application to cross-examine them.
