/ 23 February 2011

Cele feels ‘vindicated’ by Protector’s report

Cele Feels 'vindicated' By Protector's Report

Police National Commissioner General Bheki Cele feels vindicated by the Public Protector report into the Middestad Sanlam Centre lease saga, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“The report … clears Cele of the defamatory allegations published in various media platforms since August 1 2010,” Major General Nonkululeko Mbatha said in a statement.

“The allegations were that he signed a lease agreement for this building. The Public Protector not only stops at finding that General Cele did not sign the lease for Middestad Sanlam Centre, she goes further and vindicates General Cele’s widely disregarded protestations that businessman Roux Shabangu … was a stranger to him up until their meeting in June 2010 when Middestad Sanlam Centre had already been selected by the Department of Public Works as the building that the SAPS were going to move into.”

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela on Tuesday found Cele guilty of improper conduct and maladministration when the police authorised a R500-million lease for the building in Pretoria.

Mbatha said Cele would be consulting his lawyers to explore what avenues were available to him and would be seeking redress over the allegations that had caused him and his family so much pain and suffering over the past five months.

He said Cele found it odd that the Public Protector found him responsible for failing to ensure that the procurement of building lease did not violate the Public Finance Management Act or the Constitution.

‘Mystery’
Madonsela acknowledged elsewhere in her report that this was not Cele’s responsibility but that of the Department of Public Works.

“The Public Protector’s report contained a reference to a memo that he signed on May 10 2010 specifically recording that the Department of Public Works was going to follow a six-week tender process as part of its search for the space that the SA Police Service required,” Mbatha said.

“Exactly how General Cele or the SAPS ends up being found guilty for the Department of Public Works failure to do this is a mystery that will hopefully be cleared over the next few days.”

Madonsela at a press briefing on Tuesday said Cele’s conduct breached the Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act, Treasury regulations and supply-chain management rules and policies.

Cele was required by his position to “ensure that goods and services are procured in accordance with a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective”, she said.

Madonsela called on the National Treasury to urgently review the lease agreement between the department of public works and Roux Property Fund to determine whether the contract could be terminated.

She also called on the Treasury and the ministers of police and public works to take “urgent steps” to ensure appropriate action is instituted against officials who acted in contravention of the law. She said she was confident in the state’s ability and commitment to “do the right thing”.

Madonsela said she expects a disciplinary hearing and that the findings of that hearing will determine what happens to anyone found guilty of inappropriate action. “The departments must decide, together with Treasury, on the appropriate action,” she said. – Sapa and Staff reporter