‘Exonerated’ Masuku will not appeal
Former Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku will not appeal a High Court in Pretoria judgment that dismissed his application to challenge the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) findings.
He announced his decision on Tuesday through his legal representative, Mojalefa Motalane.
Masuku said he believed the high court judgment “exonerated” him to some extent.
In April, it dismissed his application with costs, including that of two counsel.
Gauteng premier David Makhura axed Masuku after the SIU placed him at the centre of tender processes in the provincial health department.
He disputed the SIU preliminary report findings and approached the high court to challenge them. The report implicated Masuku in alleged tender irregularities.
Presidential spokeswoman Khusela Diko’s late husband, Chief Thandisizwe Diko II, allegedly received a R125 million tender for personal protective equipment (PPE).
The SIU preliminary report found that Masuku “failed to execute his function in compliance with the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act”. But Masuku approached the high court asking it to find the report’s findings unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid, and set it aside.
The former MEC claimed the SIU had not a “shred of evidence” that he was guilty and relied on evidence from one source. But the high court found the SIU was not irrational when it formed its “opinion” on the tender process.
Reacting to the ruling, Masuku said he noted it found the unit saw no crime committed by him and there was no basis for civil action.
The ruling also noted the report’s text was padded and it posed an unanswered question about why Masuku supported the executive council decision to centralise procurement in the department, and speculating it might have been for nefarious purposes was unsubstantiated.
Masuku said his decision not to appeal was primarily because the court’s latter findings removed any lingering doubt on whether he was involved in procurement corruption or irregularities.
“Effectively, the exoneration by the court gives Dr Masuku the main relief he sought because his personal, professional and political integrity and career was tainted and violated by the SIU without any factual or legal basis. Overall, justice was served,” said Motalane.
Masuku’s lawyer added that although the court found he “was plainly not totally unresponsive to the irregularities” as he had endorsed the internal audit of 7 April, 2020, the former MEC remained concerned the judgment did not address executive oversight in more detail.