/ 2 November 2014

Public works to discuss Nkandla settlement with officials

The department of public works is expected to discuss a settlement with 12 of its officials who are charged in connection with President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home.
The department of public works is expected to discuss a settlement with 12 of its officials who are charged in connection with President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home.

According to City Press, the 12 officials were reportedly demanding that their individual hearings be merged and turned into a commission of inquiry.

The department of public works was expected to meet the Public Servants Association (PSA), the union representing the officials, on Tuesday.

According to the paper the PSA was demanding that former public works minister Geoff Doidge, his deputy Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, retired SA National Defence Force surgeon general Vijay Ramlakan and public protector Thuli Madonsela be called as witnesses at the commission of inquiry.

The PSA wanted the security clauses signed by the officials before they embarked on the Nkandla project nullified to allow them to testify in their own defence, and a classified Cabinet memo, in which the go-ahead for the project was given, to be declassified.

It wanted access to classified documents about the project, including an intelligence report.
The 12 face charges related to the R246-million so-called security upgrades to Zuma’s private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal. – Sapa