Beitbridge border fence corruption: Scopa calls for De Lille investigation

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) said on Wednesday 26 August that they want Department of Public Works (DPE) Minister Patricia De Lille to be investigated by the National Treasury over her role in the highly irregular Beitbridge border fence project.

The Parliamentary watchdog wants to dig deeper into De Lille’s possible involvement in the tender scam due to suspicious contractor directives mandated by the minister, who has maintained that she had no involvement in any corrupt engagements while in charge of the DPE.

Her old friends, the Democratic Alliance (DA), also believe that De Lille knows more about the reported corruption that took place than she is letting on. They called for their former ally to honour the request by Scopa for the investigation report, which she herself commissioned, to be handed over to them by Friday 28 August. 

Damning SIU Beitbridge report leaves 14 officials facing disciplinary action

The Special Investigative Unit (SIU) produced a report on the project on Monday 25 August and found that the overall cost of construction and engineering fees should have amounted to R26.1 million, but was ultimately overpriced by R14.3 million, bringing the total value of the tender to R40.4 million.

The Beitbridge Border fence project’s dubious accounting has led to the suspension of 14 department officials, who allegedly made an irregular advanced payment of R21.8 million to contractors and paid R1.8 million to the Principal Agent within days of their respective appointments.

Furthermore, the SIU concluded that the final product, described by the DA as a “glorified washing line” is well below standard, with 115 “material breaches” discovered that in the fence that the report said could easily be scaled, as it is 40 cm lower than the required 2.2 meters. 

De Lille’s relationship with Melissa Whitehead returns to haunt her

What will likely be most concerning for De Lille is the confirmation by SIU head advocate Andy Mothibi that among those identified as perpetrators of misconduct is her special ministerial adviser, Melissa Whitehead. 

De Lille and Whitehead go way back, with the latter having resigned from her role as Cape Town’s Transport head in 2017 shortly prior to a corruption probe relating to a MyCiTi bus project found her guilty of influencing tender processes. De Lille was Cape Town’s Executive Mayor at the time. 

On Thursday 20 August, DA MP Samantha Graham-Maré accused De Lille of using Whitehead to oversee the contractual negotiation relative to the Beitbridge project, and suggested that her actions while in charge of Cape Town’s bus contracts may have been mirrored in her latest role in National Government. 

“Three of the Minister’s staff members at various stages of the procurement process and not one person mentioned the Principal Agent at a cost of R3 259 071.48 to the Minister? This seems highly unlikely”, she said.

The suggestion by director-general of National Treasury, Dondo Mogajane, that De Lille “had a contract, supplier or contractor in mind” when she issued the directive will also do little to ease her nerves. 

Public Finance Management laws stipulate that “the executive authority must not interfere in administrative functions”, which is exactly what Mogajane is suggesting De Lille has done. He added that National Treasury is aware of the potential breach of duty and is monitoring it as a “point of concern”.

Scopa committee member Mervyn Dirks said that he would like National Treasury to take over the investigation and establish where money was looted, and by whom. 

“I want to recommend that National Treasury do a full investigation to look at, among other things, the directive [allegedly issued] by the Minister,” he said. 

De Lille denies any links to alleged corruption 

De Lille denies having been involved in any corrupt activities relating to the project, and said that she would fully cooperate with the investigating unit. 

“I do want to be held accountable,” she said on Wednesday. “I will never run away from accountability.”

Earlier in August, she said that the report had “not found any evidence of impropriety on my part and has also not found any evidence to suggest that I benefited personally from this project in any way whatsoever”.

On Wednesday, De Lille said that she had to fulfil certain “constitutional obligations” as an member of the department’s executive committee, and was quick to remind the committee that it was her who commissioned the report in the first place. 

‘Minister must hand over investigation to Parliament’ – DA

Meanwhile, the DA called for her to face the music and take responsibility for the failed endeavour. 

“Minister De Lille has repeatedly failed to take any responsibility for the procurement processes which were flouted to suit the bid of a specific company. She has instead continuously claimed that all investigations clear her of any wrongdoing,” said Alf Lees, the DA’s Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

“If she has nothing to hide, this request will be an easy one and she would have no problem handing the report over to Parliament for scrutiny,” he said. 

But Lees doesn’t think the inquest will be easy for De Lille, as he believes that her reluctance to hand over the SIU report points to her concern over Scopa and National treasury learning the “true extent to which she unduly interfered in the process of procuring the R37 million Beitbridge ‘Washing Line’”.

“We will not allow a situation where the COVID-19 crisis is used to line pockets of the politically connected while millions of poor South Africans languish in poverty,” he said. 

“Should the investigation find that the Minister unduly interfered in the procurement process, then this makes her complicit in the corruption that took place and she must be fired by the President and submit herself to an investigation by law enforcement agencies.”