12 February 2018

3 minute read

Africa

"There is no effort shown to probe the true corruption at the heart of the Vrede scam, and to hold those responsible accountable," Mr Maimane told reporters at the DA's Cape Town offices.

"[Free State Premier] Ace Magashule and [Former agriculture MEC] Mosebenzi Zwane get off unscathed in what was a scheme that they conceived, planned and executed - along with the Guptas - to defraud the public of hundreds of millions of rands.

"After four years, advocate Mkhwebane simply cannot blame lack of capacity for this embarrassment of a report... We were the original complainants in the Vrede matter. We have met with the public protector, and have visited the beneficiaries often to keep them posted on progress.

"We had expected some form of real justice for them, but this report has bitterly disappointed us and them. We must correct this."

According to News24, he said the party's lawyers were currently drafting papers, and the application would be launched later in the week in the North Gauteng High Court.

Mr Maimane previously said that there was large amount of evidence of corruption and money laundering relating to the Vrede project that was already in the public domain - and that it appeared that none of that was investigated.

Ms Mkhwebane found in her report that there were procurement irregularities, "gross negligence" and maladministration related to the controversial project.

The protector recommended as remedial action that Magashule should "initiate and institute disciplinary action against all implicated officials involved in the Vrede dairy project".

DA federal chair James Selfe on Monday said the remedial action was a clear conflict of interest, as Magashule was implicated in the matter. Some of the revelations in the leaked Gupta emails were also not investigated.

"A high school student could have investigated a lot of the issues in the public domain alone... It is woefully inadequate," Selfe said.

Ms Mkhwebane has been summoned to appear in Parliament to explain her statements in recent weeks over the Vrede Diary Farm report. She will appear on Wednesday.

Hawks raid

The report follows on the back of the recent court application by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) for a court order to freeze assets worth around R220 million, belonging to individuals who'd benefited from the ill-fated project, including members of the Gupta family and some of their associates.

Last month, the Hawks also conducted search and seizure operations at both Magashule's offices and the provincial office of the department of agriculture.

An affidavit has also revealed that Free State's agricultural department – under then MEC Mosebenzi Zwane – paid the R220m to the Guptas and some of their associates in what the AFU calls a "scheme designed to defraud and steal monies from the department".

One hundred black emerging farmers were promised five cows each as part of the empowerment scheme, but they never received them.

TheCattleSite News Desk