Nkandla contractor’s appointment ‘hush-hush, rush-rush’, hearing told

A CONTRACTOR who banked millions in state funding to upgrade the homestead of President Jacob Zuma was so hurriedly appointed that two key Public Works bid committees sat on the same day‚ a process which usually stretches over weeks.

Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigator Christian Legwabe testified that the back-toback sittings were highly abnormal.

Legwaba is the first witness in disciplinary hearings into alleged wrongdoing by officials over the R246-million Nkandla upgrades.

The hearings are taking place in Durban‚ with Legwaba starting his testimony in the case against Jayshree Pardesi‚ a director of key accounts management‚ on Wednesday.

She is one of 10 Public Works officials accused of flouting tender processes in the awarding of contracts for the Nkandla project.

Legwaba said on Wednesday that Pardesi was on a Public Works panel that appointed Moneymine Investments 310 CC as a contractor.

Yesterday‚ Legwaba said Moneymine’s appointment was a “hush-hush‚ rush-rush” job.

He said the bid evaluation committee and the bid adjudication committee‚ usually independent of each other‚ sat in back-to-back meetings to push Moneymine’s appointment through‚ even though there was no budget for the work. This was abnormal, he said.