Nkandla hearings to be expensive

Durban - The government is sparing no expense in the disciplinary hearings for 12 Department of Public Works officials accused of flouting procurement procedures during the security upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence.

All the hearings will be held in Durban, where nine of the accused are based. On Monday, the director of key accounts management, Jayshree Pardesi, made her first appearance and her inquiry was chaired by advocate Thabani Khuzwayo.

Pardesi and the director of projects in the department, Itumeleng Molosi, are from the Pretoria office, while the director of prestige projects, Belinda Mlota, is based in Cape Town.

The trio will be flown back and forth and provided with accommodation each time they attend the hearings, which are expected to continue until March.

Eleven of the accused are being represented by the Public Servants Association’s (PSA) labour relations officer, Roshan Lil-Ruthan, in the inquiry. Lil-Ruthan said the hearings were set to cost the state millions because it was going to fly and accommodate some of the witnesses as well.

“They (the department) are also bringing in ‘old silk’ to chair the proceedings and represent them at these hearings, so one can only imagine what that is going to amount to. And, mind you, this is supposed to be an internal hearing,” he said.

The Mercury could not confirm that each hearing would have a different chairman and an external legal practitioner representing the department.

However, the senior project manager, Jean Rindel, and Pardesi both appeared before different chairmen and faced different prosecutors.

Lil-Ruthan said that could possibly set the tone for the rest of the hearings which would make the cases independent of each other.

Pardesi is facing charges of misconduct in appointing Moneymine Investments 310 CC without following an open tender process. This is alleged to have led to the department incurring irregular expenditure of R6.1 million.

According to the Special Investigation Unit report into the Nkandla upgrades, “no records exist” on the appointment of Moneymine, but it got the job under a “negotiated contract”.

Moneymine benefited to the tune of R56.2m from the project for the implementation of security measures in the main house and the construction of six new buildings.

Lit-Ruthan expressed confidence that Pardesi would be exonerated from all the charges against her. He said they would decide which witnesses to call once they had received the names of the Department of Public Works’s witnesses, which advocate Pareen Vahed would present on October 29.

“Ms Pardesi and her colleagues were taking instructions from their supervisors and if the department is not planning to call all the supervisors concerned to testify, then we will be subpoenaing them,” he said.

Pardesi’s formal hearing will begin on November 10, when she is expected to plead not guilty to the charges.

In the meantime, her colleagues will take their turns to face the music, with the Durban-based deputy director in utilisation and contracts, Sibusiso Chonco, making his first appearance on Wednesday.

- The Mercury