IEC nailed over lease

Judge not buying excuse for delay

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has been dealt a major blow in its bid to extricate itself from the unlawful R320-million lease agreement it signed in 2009 for its headquarters.

In a judgment delivered at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday, Judge Dawie Fourie nailed the IEC over its five-year delay in bringing an application to review the contract it entered into with property development company Abland.

Fourie pointed out that legislation compelled the IEC to bring the lease review application within 180 days after becoming aware it had entered into an irregular contract.

“… I am not convinced that a full and reasonable explanation has been given by the commission for the extraordinary long delay in bringing these review proceedings,” Fourie said.

Arguing for the matter to be heard though time had lapsed, the IEC said it only became aware the lease was irregular following a 2013 report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela.

Madonsela said the process the IEC’s then chair Advocate Pansy Tlakula followed in securing the deluxe Riverside Office Park in Centurion, to the tune of R320-million over 20 years, was “irregular … and violated procurement rules”.

Fourie said there was evidence commissioners knew about the irregular lease way before Madonsela’s report.