Water shenanigans show how SA is drowning in corruption
• Government graft has become a given but most people are unaware of just how deep it goes
In his first media briefing after the cabinet reshuffle, Pravin Gordhan asked the media to “join the dots” and “present the facts in sufficient detail so that ordinary South Africans can ask the question: are these guys representing our interests?”
He also urged the public to organise against those elements in the government who were undermining our democracy and economy.
As I write this, thousands of South Africans of all races are gathering in Pretoria to protest against those “guys” — President Jacob Zuma and his cronies, who have driven a cold and systematic attack on our country for their personal gain.
What makes these protests encouraging is that they show the public is increasingly aware that those in power no longer represent their interests.
What makes it disheartening is that the majority of those protesting have come to this conclusion without knowing even half of what has been going on. These are the dots Gordhan has been asking us to join.
As a supposed media insider, I can tell you that the scale and complexity of the corruption taking place in parts of the government is truly breathtaking. It’s not so much about the size of the figures that are being plundered from state coffers — although they are vast — but the seeming impunity with which it is being done.
As an example of how deep and wide the rot has spread, let me give you a brief insight into the Department of Water and Sanitation.
The department and its minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, appeared in City Press this past week after it was revealed that the Water Trading Entity, a unit within the department, had racked up a R3.5bn overdraft.
The department also appears to have tried to “cook its books” to explain R654m it can’t account for in its financials. According to City Press, the Treasury’s outgoing directorgeneral, Lungisa Fuzile, had refused to settle the unit’s invoices until the department settled its R3.5bn overdraft.
On its own, this would be bad enough, but this is only the latest in a series of scandals that have rocked the department. The minister is already under investigation by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane for “irregularities and improprieties” regarding R26bn spent on the expansion of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
The department is also under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit over tender and other irregularities in the Giyani Emergency Project.
Some background on this little gem: Mokonyane authorised Polokwane-based water utility Lepelle Northern Water to implement a R502m water and sewerage provision project in Giyani shortly after she was appointed minister.
Lepelle appointed LTE Consulting to deliver the “turnkey” emergency water and sanitation project. LTE then appointed Khato Civils and South Zambezi to implement the project.
Because LTE was appointed on the basis of an emergency procurement, it did not need to go through a formal tender process. Because it was asked to provide a “turnkey” project, they could appoint Khato Civils without any tender process. Conveniently, the bosses of LTE Consulting and Khato Civils are close friends of Mokonyane.
Although the initial project in Giyani was completed in October 2014, City Press revealed that Lepelle dished out nine more mega-water projects, totalling R2.2bn, to the three companies without following any tender procedures.
They were also given another two contracts for the design and construction of the Nwamitwa Dam outside Tzaneen and the Nandoni-Mhinga water supply tender — neither of which was awarded through a tender process.
To give you another picture of how quickly things have deteriorated at water and sanitation, a look at the department’s annual report shows that irregular expenditure has increased, from R360m in the 2013-14 financial year, to a staggering R2.5bn in the 2015-16 past financial year.
You may hope that there have been consequences of some sort for this, but nothing meaningful has been done.
The attitude of the members of Lepelle Northern Water is illustrative of the impunity with which those close to Mokonyane operate.
In February 2017, News24 reported that only one board member turned up at a meeting with Parliament’s water and sanitation committee, where it was expected to report back on the situation in Giyani. Although the invitation to the briefing was sent out in December 2016, the other board members were unable to attend because they had other “engagements”.
Not surprisingly, senior executives from the Treasury, the department and a key water board member have told the media that Cabinet should place the department under administration, but nothing has happened. Why?
Because Mokonyane is embedded in President Jacob Zuma’s camp. As she has stated before, she is willing to put her body on the line to defend him.
Following the cabinet reshuffle, she was extremely vocal in her support of Zuma, saying the “ANC will not change its mind. President Jacob Zuma will remain leader of the ANC until December 2017, when we go to elections.”
This would certainly be her goal. If my sources are correct, a portion of the money bleeding out of her department is finding its way to the Eastern Cape, where Zuma is desperately trying to drum up political support for his ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
If Dlamini-Zuma succeeds Zuma as ANC president in December, Mokonyane and her “friends” will be safe and we can expect more of the same.
Former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas said: “If you look at the events in SA over the last couple of years … there are certain patterns and events that point to particular interests being protected, consolidated, being deepened.
“The state capture report is probably the pinnacle of that point and consolidates a picture of a state that is increasingly becoming vulnerable.
“Institutions that are increasingly centres of attack, and in many instances — to be blunt — for looting. That is the reality we have,” he said.
I CAN TELL YOU THAT THE SCALE AND COMPLEXITY OF THE CORRUPTION TAKING PLACE … IS TRULY BREATHTAKING