The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday called for an urgent investigation into the Gautrain project, suggesting the Auditor General lead it.
DA spokesperson Stuart Farrow said this offers incoming Auditor General Terence Nombembe a perfect chance to begin his tenure on the right note by upholding openness and transparency.
”Reports in the weekend press that two Cabinet ministers, a deputy minister and several others with potentially conflicting interests are among the shareholders of a consortium tasked with the already controversial Gautrain project need to be investigated urgently,” Farrow said in a statement.
”Consequently, the DA will request the Auditor General to conduct a special investigation into whether the officials in question have been in contravention of any laws or codes of conduct under the Public Finances Management Act because of their alleged connection to the Gautrain project.
”We will also request the parliamentary ethics committee to check the affected members’ declarations of interest.”
It is necessary to establish who has interests in this project before it becomes possible to determine if there is any conflict of interest.
Large stake
According to a report in the Sunday Times, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Education Minister Naledi Pandor, Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and a number of other African National Congress (ANC) officials are among those who own shares in companies that together have a large stake in the Gautrain project.
Mapisa-Nqakula and Mbete have shares in Dyambu Holdings, while Pandor is involved in Black Management Forum Investments. Both companies and 11 others have a 25% stake — worth R5-billion — in the Gautrain through Strategic Partners Group, which is the empowerment partner in Bombela, the Sunday Times said.
Barbara Jensen, spokesperson for the Gautrain project, denied that Dyambu had any shares in it.
”Some of these top officials were apparently even present in Cabinet meetings in which the Gautrain project was discussed and approved,” Farrow said.
Mapisa-Nqakula had reportedly confirmed that she did not recuse herself from the Cabinet meetings in which the project was discussed because she ”was unaware at the time that Dyambu [the company in which she owned shares] was part of the Gautrain consortium”.
”The real question is: Who else knew that the minister owned these shares?” Farrow asked.
Denial
Madlala-Routledge has denied that she stands to benefit from the construction of the Gautrain.
”I hold no shares in the consortium that is building the high-speed Gautrain … I do not stand to benefit from the Gautrain project in any way,” she said on Sunday.
She denied being a shareholder in the Bombela Consortium and said she had ”never been part of Dyambu”, which forms part of Bombela.
Madlala-Routledge said she found the allegations ”particularly disturbing and serious” as they created ”confusion”.
The Gautrain project has already been mired in controversy. It is of utmost importance that the Auditor General conduct a forensic audit of these allegations, the DA said.
That ministers and members of Cabinet have potentially conflicting interests in supposedly above-board tendering procedures could only serve to undermine people’s confidence in the way in which the government conducts business as well as the integrity of those officials.
”An investigation is the only way to clear up the doubts that have been created so that the project can move forward without yet another cloud hanging over it,” Farrow said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions also expressed outrage at the claims which, it said, reinforced the belief that there is a culture of self-enrichment among a growing number of ANC and government leaders.
It called on public representatives to choose between public service and a business career.