Paul Kirk The KwaZulu-Natal government’s investigation into a series of Mail & Guardian exposs on Prince Gideon Zulu has found the MEC for welfare and population development squeaky clean – without checking the bank accounts that implicated him in the first place. Meanwhile, the controversial prince has blamed the rampant chaos in the provincial Department of Welfare and Population Development on racist Indian members of his staff – “Indians in the Durban office who are not committed to helping African people. They have a lack of interest and commitment.” Sources in the Heath special investigating unit, which has conducted a preliminary investigation into Zulu, expressed surprise that the commission had not subpoenaed bank account records of Zulu and his family. These could have further corroborated evidence obtained by the M&G that Zulu’s daughter was receiving money from the company selected to administer the province’s pension pay-outs. The only bank details in the possession of the commission were those given to it by the M&G. These accounts, which covered one month, showed transfers of sums of money from Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) – a contractor of Zulu’s department – to both the prince and his daughter. The release of the report comes days after the prince told his portfolio committee on social welfare that the rampant chaos in his department was the fault of Indians who did not want to help African pensioners. Two separate Durban High Court judges have in as many weeks summoned Zulu’s director general to court to explain the state of chaos in the province’s pension department.
The portfolio committee was on Monday told by the KwaZulu-Natal state attorney that the province’s pension department was being taken to court more often than any other province bar the Eastern Cape. Margaret Ambler-Moore, a member of the committee said: “As soon as the prince is challenged he now gets defensive and makes racial slurs. It is quite embarrassing. He does not seem to care about the situation. It is now an embarrasment to be on the committee.” The advocate chairing the commission of inquiry into Zulu, Jan Venter, was personally chosen by the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Lionel Mtshali. Venter recently hit headlines when he unsuccessfully defended Zulu’s close friend and member of the Amakhosi, Chief Calalabaku Khawula, on charges relating to an arms cache found at the chief’s home by the Scorpions. Attempts to obtain a copy of Venter’s report were fruitless as Mthsali’s representative, Mahlati Tembe, described the document as “privileged” and claimed the report existed only in one original copy that could only be released after having been presented to the provincial legislature. Tembe said he could not comment on why the commission had not subpoenaed the bank records of Zulu as he had not studied the report. In February this year an M&G investigation into Zulu’s chaotic pensions department found that he was receiving money from CPS through his daughter’s bank account. CPS had recently been awarded the contract to pay pensions in KwaZulu-Natal, despite the fact that its tender was roughly R20-million more than that of its rivals. Zulu’s daughter explained the transactions away by claiming she had been hired by CPS to conduct a study into micro-lending. Numerous attempts to obtain a copy of this study have been unsuccessful. The M&G obtained documentary proof of all these allegations. Advocate Kemp Kemp who was hired to represent Zulu at the commission hearings demanded copies of the M&G’s notes and demanded that the names of sources not be obliterated from these notes. At this point the M&G refused to cooperate any further. At a press conference on Wednesday Zulu claimed he had been tried and judged by the media. Although he would not mention the M&G by name he claimed that the investigation had been driven by vindictive racism. “It appears that there are people who are never pleased with delivery, particularly if it comes from the other side of the colour line.” The prince claimed he was the victim of his own fight against corruption. l The Heath unit’s Gerhard Visagie said the unit was waiting for President Thabo Mbeki to authorise its proclamation for the Zulu probe. Another Heath representative said the unit had sought the proclamation after preliminary investigations.
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