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Zondo Commission: Zwane probed on his oversight role as MEC during Estina Project

Canny Maphanga
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Former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane. Picture: Sizwe Ndingane
Former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane. Picture: Sizwe Ndingane
  • Mosebenzi Zwane was questioned on what oversight role he played in an agreement which was not concluded.
  • He claimed he was under the impression that Paras was doing the work on the Vrede Dairy Project.
  • Zwane was probed on why he never asked to see the agreement.

Former Free State MEC of Agriculture, Mosebenzi Zwane, says when he went to India, he was performing an oversight role on an entity which he assumed had concluded its agreement with the department.

"We were informed that Paras had capacity in terms of quantities, it also [had] the rights in terms of marketing/selling milk. I thought, when I was there, I may as well verify the report given to the executive and myself in terms of Paras," Zwane told the State Capture Inquiry on Thursday.

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the chair of the commission, put the following question to the witness: "Do you accept that no agreement was ever concluded between the Department of Agriculture and Paras, with regards to the Estina project?"

Zwane responded:

Before we get to that point, let me say, it is a fact that my HOD, together with Ashok Narayan, went to India and went to Paras. This is a fact, in terms of the report we got, that necessitated me when I was going to India to go and verify what was in the report. For the longest time, I have been under the impression that Paras is the one doing work on the project, called Vrede Dairy.

News24 earlier reported the controversial project intended to see 100 black emerging farmers receive five cows each as part of an empowerment scheme. Given to Estina in 2013, under a free 99-year lease by the provincial Department of Agriculture, the farm was one of the most controversial transactions between the Guptas and a government entity.

Zwane added he was under the impression that Paras was doing the work on the Vrede Dairy Project, up until May 2013.

Zondo probed Zwane on what he did when he discovered the department had never concluded any agreement with Paras.

Zwane said:

In this case, unfortunately, I was no longer in the department. I left early [in] March 2013. The report of the AG [Auditor-General] was after I left. There was subsequently a report by Treasury when I was no longer there, so the remedial action would have happened when I was no longer there.

Zondo asked Zwane where he got the impression the agreement was concluded. Zwane told the commission that, in summary, it was based on the fact that it was common cause that processes must be followed in procuring a service provider - and that these processes were undertaken by the department head at the time, who was Peter Thabethe.

Zondo followed up by asking whether he was ever shown the agreement by Thabethe. To which Zwane responded, "we do not operate that way".

Oversight role questioned

Zondo asked how Zwane's oversight role could be performed if he had not seen the contract with an entity, which involved millions of rands.

He said:

You say, as MEC, your role is to play oversight over the department, you take the trouble of wanting to meet the CEO of Paras, wanting to go to Paras and meet them because you want to verify... one would have thought the least you would do is ask to see the contract the department has. How do you play oversight with regard to a project, where you have no idea what the contract says about the project and the partnership?

Zwane responded:

It has never happened that we normally get into the details of the contract. We look at the report in front of us, and based on that report, we take the report and go play our oversight. If there are issues we pick up, we come back and say, here are the issues, give us further information. Normally, that is how we do things. It would not have come to that in this case, I must look for a contract before I go there.
Former Free State MEC of Agriculture Mosebenzi Zwane

The inquiry continues.

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