TUESDAY, 200PM:
The inquiry into the Motheo Housing scandal reported on Wednesday that although the contract was technically illegal and the housing board had failed to ensure adequate funds, there was no proof that anyone benefitted improperly from the contract.
Commission chairman, Deloitte and Touche executive Hugh Dreyer, submitted a 140-page report to Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa on Wednesday. Phosa, who released the report to the public immediately, said he accepted the findings, including blame placed on the provincial housing board chairman Saths Moodley, who was forced to resign over the affair.
The report stressed that its brief excluded any probe into the role of any national figure in the affair, most notably that of Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, but noted that it had find no evidence of her attempting to influence the approval process.
The inquiry also exonerated former housing board member Job Mthembeni, saying that his role as a director of Motheo was not a conflict of interest. Mthombeni had been sacked after it was revealed that he was also a Motheo director.
The report noted that despite the fact that the government had failed to pay up, Motheo continued to attempt to deliver housing. It recommended that Motheo be allowed to complete construction of houses on the 4 000 sites it had alredy serviced with water and roads, but that subsequent phases of the project be scrapped.
Phosa said: “I remain even more committed to the process of good and clean governance. I am convinced that this investigation and its findings will contribute to that goal.
ANC acting secretary general Cheryl Carolus welcomed the findings, in particular that there was no proof that Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele had attempted to influence the approval process. Carolus said she hoped those politicians who tried to implicate Mthembi-Mahanyele in the matter would apologise.
“We are disheartened that some politicians saw it fit to drag the name of Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele into the matter. Now that the minister has not been linked to the issue, we hope that those politicians will have the grace to retract their statements,” Carolus said.