Zille probe escalated to national level
PUBLIC protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s national office has taken over an investigation into a complaint laid against Western Cape premier Helen Zille.
Mkhwebane’s office in the Western Cape had been handling the complaint‚ laid by the ANC last year against Zille after she allegedly put pressure on officials of her government to help kickstart her son’s fledgling business.
The Sunday Times at the time reported on copies of e-mails that showed the provincial government worked on tight deadlines to ensure Zille’s son‚ Paul Maree‚ and his business partner‚ Chris Mills‚ had the use of 150 new tablets worth R625 000 for a school holiday project.
They showed the Western Cape Department of Education treated the project as a priority.
The project at the time was to run holiday workshops for matric pupils in three township schools in Cape Town.
The two have since registered a business‚ Paper Video‚ on the concept.
At the time‚ Zille dismissed any suggestion of wrongdoing by her or her officials.
This week, public protector spokeswoman Cleopatra Mosala confirmed that the probe had been taken over by the national office.
“The matter was lodged in terms of the Executive Members Ethics Act and departmental supply management processes‚ [and was] therefore prioritised for investigation by the national office.”
She said her office took over because the period to finalise the investigation was 30 days. The complaint was laid last June.
Mosala said the public protector was considering Zille’s responses to questions.
But contacted yesterday‚ Zille said although there had been interactions with the Office of the Public Protector‚ she was not aware that the probe had been taken over by the national office.
“The reason‚ I suspect‚ is that they know I did nothing wrong‚ but they are desperate to find a reason to say that I did.
“The process has been seriously flawed‚” she said.
The complaint was laid by Western Cape provincial legislature member Cameron Dugmore on behalf of the ANC.
He could not be reached for comment yesterday. – TimesLIVE