Estina ‘sunk by Gupta landing’

Former head of the Free State agriculture department Peter Thabethe claims a media report about the infamous 2013 Waterkloof landing halted the potential of the Estina dairy farm project in Vrede.

“[Former Free State agriculture executive committee member] Mosebenzi Zwane was of the view that it was a great project and that it would have put the province on the map if it was executed properly,” evidence leader advocate Leah Gcabashe put to the witness yesterday.

Gifted to Estina in 2013 under a 99-year lease by the provincial department of agriculture, the farm in Vrede was one of the most controversial transactions between the Guptas and a government entity.

“I agree with [Zwane], if it was given an opportunity to be executed. When the project was being implemented, problems kicked in from the initiation – it never had the opportunity to kick off.

“The first witness who came here referred to Waterkloof; from that time there was never an opportunity to implement it because it was investigation after investigation,” Thabethe said.

Thabethe was testifying at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who could not accept the submission that a media report could halt a government official from doing his or her job.

“That triggered a lot of problems. When we come to it, I will explain one of the issues. The investigation that was done by National Treasury was based on the article,” Thabethe said.

Zondo responded: “Yes and so what? They can investigate but you can carry on with your job.”

Thabethe agreed, but added the funds for the project were halted and this was documented in letters from the national department of agriculture, as well as Treasury.

“Until that time, everything was happening well. Now, after the landing, we were then beginning to enter the second year of the project and that is when the problems happened. August 2013 was the final withdrawal, but the letter from National Treasury instructing us not to proceed had already been written,” he said.

Gcabashe further clarified to the witness this view was not correct as the letter – which will be dealt with by the commission in future – had instructed the Free State department to allocate the remainder of the R53 million (set aside for the project) to other projects as R24 million had already been spent.

“It had nothing to do with the article,” she said. – News24 Wire

The Citizen reported earlier this year that the same board approved massive salaries for executives and the annual salary package of the current CEO, Jonathan Louw, was more than double that of the highest tier of CEO salaries in the nonprofit sector.

The report reads: “There are various portions of Mr Vroom’s curriculum vitae which we have found to be gravely misleading. On the allegation whether or not Mr Vroom was adequately qualified to be appointed to the position of CEO, our opinion is that Mr Vroom is deficiently qualified, if one has regard to the role profile for the position which he occupies.”

During the investigation, Vroom said he negotiated his salary with Rob Theunissen, who was still a board member, despite attempting to mislead the investigation by denying his involvement in negotiation of the CEO’s salary.

SANBS board chairperson Getty Simelane said Theunissen was

Vroom’s curriculum vitae gravely misleading