The Public Protector has stepped in to block another shady police lease deal worth R1-billion involving controversial businessman Roux Shabangu, the Sunday Times reported.
Shabangu emerged as the frontrunner to win the tender for a new police headquarters in Durban, the paper said.
A previous bid to award the deal in Durban to Shabangu without going out to tender was halted after the Sunday Times exposed it last year.
But in April this year, months before Public Protector Thuli Mandonsela was due to complete her current investigation, the department of public works put the same deal out to tender again.
According to the report the tender appeared to have been tailored to ensure that Shabangu won.
It calls for a 45 499 square metres building with 451 parking bays — three times the size of the Durban SAPS headquarters, Servamus building in Bram Fischer Road.
Madonsela became aware that public works had issued a new tender after the Sunday Times asked if the department had received her blessing.
“No, the Public P:rotector was surprised to learn that tenders are already [being] considered by the department,” her spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi said.
“The Public Protector will urgently approach the minister of public works in this regard.”
The two processes were directly linked and the Public Protector’s yet to be finalised report on the scrapped Durban lease could affect the tender process, she said. – Sapa