Recently-appointed Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka needs to ”come clean” about her role in the Oilgate scandal, Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) tenders and related matters, says Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.
In his weekly newsletter on his party’s SA Today website, Leon said he was writing to Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana ”to request that he investigate the deeply-flawed tender process in 2001/02 at the SFF, which awarded a R1-billion oil tender to Imvume Investment Holdings”.
The DA leader said he would also submit parliamentary questions to Mlambo-Ngcuka, calling on her to clarify certain matters relating to this.
These would include ”whether she, in her former role as minister of minerals and energy, played any role in the SFF tender, and whether she believes correct tendering procedures were followed”.
The questions will also focus on whether she was involved in business arrangements between state-owned oil company PetroSA and Imvume, and if so, what role she played.
Leon said he also wanted to know whether she authorised a trip to Iraq in 2001, one which included Imvume CEO Sandi Majali, as well as several other African National Congress and government officials.
”On Wednesday, I sent a letter to the deputy president outlining these same questions in detail, and inviting her to publicly clarify her role in the Oilgate affair.
”On Tuesday, the DA decided to seek an appeal against a decision by PetroSA to refuse a request for information relating to Oilgate, filed by the DA under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
”On Monday, I submitted a request to the Public Protector asking him to determine the extent to which the state was involved in funding and supporting Imvume’s oil ventures in Iraq and travel related to those ventures.”
Leon said the role of then-minister Mlambo-Ngcuka was ”emerging as the central question at the heart of Oilgate”.
Thus far, Mlambo-Ngcuka has claimed she was not involved.
”It has since emerged, however, that she personally intervened to secure the permanent appointment of Petro SA chief executive Sipho Mkhize, who was acting CEO during the Oilgate affair.
”Allegations have also surfaced this week that the minister intervened to ensure that Imvume won the SFF tender, even after SFF chief executive Renosi Mokate initially disqualified Imvume because of major flaws and irregularities in its application.”
It remained to be seen whether the deputy president had the courage and integrity to come forward with the full story of Oilgate, and her involvement in it.
”It is time for the deputy president to come clean about Oilgate. The lesson she should take from her predecessor is that the longer she waits and defers and makes excuses, the more tangled the web of allegations will become,” Leon said. – Sapa