MONDAY, 4.30PM
NEDCOR group chairman Chris Liebenberg sais at the weekend that he forewarned both Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele and Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa that the banking group was firing “Mr Housing”, Kevin Gibbs.
He also told them that Nedcor was investigating a series of “highly unethical” irregularities allegedly committed by Gibbs. Lienbenberg said on Saturday that the “courtesy call” to Mthembi-Mahanyele had been made before she travelled to Mpumalanga to open Motheo Construction’s R205-million rural housing project.
The scheme is currently being investigated by the auditor-general following allegations that it is costing taxpayers R33-million more than it should, that it was awarded to Motheo before the company officially existed and that Motheo’s founder and director, Thandi Ndlovu, is a close friend of Mthembi-Mahanyele.
Although Liebenberg stressed that Gibb’s suspension and subsequent dismissal were not directly related to Motheo, he did say that the two-page list of charges were “definitely highly unethical”.
“Gibbs himself has the two-page letter listing the charges but he is refusing to publicly disclose them so we cannot either,” Liebenberg said.
Insisting that the calls to Mthembi-Mahanyele and Phosa were not designed to warn them against either Motheo or the rural housing project itself, Liebenberg said he had decided to warn the politicians simply because he knew that Gibbs had close dealings with both their departments.