An ANC lesson in hypocrisy
The recent release of the Public Protector's final report on the Western Cape communications tender has (mostly) put an end to the hullabaloo created by a single story in the Sunday Times that misrepresented facts and cherry-picked from an internal Treasury assessment document.
I have welcomed the Public Protector's findings, which confirm our own internal oversight reports, and conclude that there was no corruption in the awarding of the communications contract. The contract was transparent, fair, equitable, competitive and cost effective. It was also valid and lawful.
While the Public Protector found some administrative errors at the start of our contract, these were nothing new. Our internal checks and balances had picked these up at the early stages of the tender process, and long before the Public Protector became involved. The real irony is that the matter would never have been referred to the Public Protector at all, had it not been for the diligence and thoroughness of our own internal monitoring mechanism.
Its report was leaked. Of course, the ANC and COSATU wasted no time in referring the matter to the Public Protector - after we had already fixed the problem! In truth, the whole saga is a testimony to the efficacy of our internal monitoring systems, but expecting our opponents or media commentators to acknowledge that is a bridge too far.
Fixing the problem early came at a cost of R8,696 to re-advertise the tender. The Public Protector found this to be wasteful and fruitless expenditure. (If we hadn't re-advertised, the entire contract would have constituted wasteful and fruitless expenditure, but be that as it may.)
We are not complacent about R8,000. Every cent of taxpayer's money matters. But to put it into perspective - it was roughly the same amount that we spent on air tickets and car hire for officials to attend the Public Protector's press conference in Pretoria where she announced the outcome of her probe. And her investigation itself cost, at a conservative estimate, hundreds of thousands of Rands.
Given these facts, questions must be asked about the motives behind the complaints laid by the ANC and COSATU, particularly as they had been given all the written evidence up-front to prove there was no corruption in awarding the contract.
The complainants' actions become even more questionable, considering that the Public Protector has been forced to stall several serious corruption probes, due to lack of funding, including one into the affairs of Julius Malema.
But instead of accounting for their actions - including leaking the Public Protector's provisional report - some complainants have chosen to continue inventing facts and distorting findings in the hope of making some political capital out of the matter, after their failed attempts so far.
More specifically, ANC Western Cape Provincial Secretary Songezo Mjongile and COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary Tony Ehrenreich have made several ludicrous allegations (including that I intimidated the Public Protector to change her provisional findings!). They have also outrageously inflated the amount the Western Cape government has spent in terms of the communications contract.
They claim the amount is R70-million. The actual figure is one-tenth of that amount: R7-million since the contract was awarded in 2010. It would be instructive to compare this with amounts spent in every other province (not to mention the previous ANC administration in the Western Cape).
Ironically, shortly before the Public Protector released her report, another report was released that has received scant attention. It was the report of the Forensic Investigation Unit (FIU), following a three-year exhaustive investigation into a communications contract between former Premier Ebrahim Rasool's department, Hip Hop and Brandtalk. The FIU found that the 22,8-million contract constituted irregular expenditure due to a conflict of interest not declared during the bidding process.
Furthermore, R1.9 million paid to Hip Hop Media was also deemed fruitless and wasteful expenditure. In addition, 14 Hip Hop invoices amounting to R3 million were not supported by quotations. Disciplinary processes have been instituted against responsible officials. But the politicians involved have, so far, gone scott-free, including ANC Provincial Chairman Marius Fransman.
Ironically, our administration now has to account to the Auditor General for the irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by the former ANC government! If anything should have been referred to the Public Protector, it was these dodgy contracts.
Instead of being shamed into silence, or calling his own members to account, ANC Provincial Secretary Mjongile, merely escalated his threats against the DA administration. He is now making hollow threats about taking the DA's communications contract to the Public Service Commission and the Auditor-General for further investigation, thus potentially incurring further fruitless expenditure.
To fully appreciate the hypocrisy of his allegations, they should be examined in relation to his own political record.
Mjongile has used his various positions in the ANCYL and the ANC over the years for personal enrichment and to escape accountability for his actions.
This is evident from the following:
In 2006, he received a 5 year suspended sentence with the option of a R2500 fine when he pleaded guilty to defrauding the South African Revenue Service (SARS) of R1.8 million. Mjongile submitted no tax returns over a five year period, claiming that he received no income during that time, despite earning R4.8 million;
A 2009 investigation into the financial records of ANCYL's investment wing Lembede Investment Holdings - set up to create business opportunities for young people - found that during Mjongile's tenure as Chief Executive Officer, millions of Rands went missing from the company and no audited financial statements were submitted or accounting records kept;
At the time of the release of these findings, former ANCYL President Julius Malema stated the following: "In our interaction with former leaders of the ANCYL who led during Mjongile's tenure as CEO, we have verified that he never presented an audited report to the ANCYL leadership. He instead was getting richer, most probably at the expense of the resources which could have otherwise been directed to the organisation and social responsibility tasks of the development trust." (Mjongile has never been held to account);
He is also on the list of ANCYL members who benefitted from their relationship with Brett Kebble, personally receiving a R846 147 donation from the mining magnate before his ‘murder';
In 2008, a medical supplies company owned by Mjongile and his former wife was awarded a contract valued at just under R153 000 for the supply and delivery of catheters and other urological equipment to Western Cape hospitals. However, the company failed to deliver the equipment. Mjongile was blacklisted by National Treasury and has been banned from doing business with government until the end of 2014.
Looking at Mjongile's record it is no surprise that he suspects everyone else of trying to manipulate and fraudulently enrich themselves through government tenders. Perhaps he cannot imagine them operating any other way.
But as confirmed by the Public Protector' investigation, this was not the case in the Western Cape communications tender. The presence of two special advisers in the bid evaluation made absolutely no difference to the outcome, and one actually supported a different company to the one that was awarded the contract.
It's clear some commentators could learn some lessons from Don Quixote:
"A further counsel bear in mind:
If that thy roof be made of glass,
It shows small wit to pick up stones
To pelt the people as they pass."
Don Quixote 1605
Sincerely yours,
Helen Zille
This article by Helen Zille first appeared in SA Today, the weekly online newsletter of the leader of the Demcoratic Alliance.
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