Lwandle residents fear repeat of evictions

Cape Town - Holding back tears, while tightly clutching the shoulder of her 3-year-old son, Nomapheli Pupu says the trauma of the evictions that took place in Lwandle a few months ago is still real.

“There are nights when I just can’t sleep, worrying that maybe (the) government will change its mind and evict us again.”

In June, Pupu and 839 other families woke up to sounds of rubber bullets and stun grenades. Law enforcement officers and the police had come to evict illegal squatters living on SA National Road Agency (Sanral) land.

The two-day evictions followed an interim Western Cape High Court order that was granted to Sanral in January to remove the squatters from the land.

Some squatters burnt their shacks and 10 people were arrested for public violence.

For two months Pupu and the rest of the families squatted in a community hall and on August 26 they were allowed to temporarily move back to the Sanral-owned land.

“We do not know what will happen next. Life is not the same any more,” she said.

“We have lost so much of our own belongings; our children are living in constant fear questioning whether police will come again and chuck us out of our homes.”

Pupu lost her caravan – which she used for her takeaway business – her bed, furniture and clothes during the chaos.

She, her husband and seven children use crates as makeshift beds.

She had also collected old, abandoned furniture and is dependent on her husband’s wages for food and electricity.

“We still don’t have electricity here, so we hook our electric lines to nearby houses and rent electricity from them. I pay about R400 a month.”

The mother of seven added that her children’s education had also been affected by the evictions. She said her children normally did “fairly well” at school, but their recent report cards were not as impressive.

“I don’t blame them. Their books and school bags were thrown out; everything was a mess.”

Xoliswa Masakala, a community leader, lost her job as a police volunteer because of the evictions.

Masakala and her husband, Albert, testified at the Lwandle Inquiry set up by Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu after the evictions. The inquiry wrapped up its work last week.

On Wednesday, the 296-page report was handed to Sisulu, who aims to use the findings as a benchmark for the execution of eviction orders.

Sisulu is to present her recommendations at a human settlements portfolio committee meeting next week.

Masakala’s husband was one of the 10 people arrested during the evictions.

“We are still attending court hearings because of that,” she said.

Masakala showed the Cape Argus photos that had been downloaded on the internet. The photos showed police pepper-spraying her husband lying on the ground.

“How could police treat my husband like that? He did nothing wrong.”

Masakala said living conditions in Lwandle were still harsh – there were only 20 toilets for the people living in 485 homes.

zodidi.dano@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus and Political Bureau

Here’s trouble, cop said of poo protesters

Cape Town - When police officer Errol Wildschudt saw four men entering through the doors of Cape Town International Airport – each carrying containers of human waste – he turned to his colleague and said: “Here comes trouble.”

Wildschudt was a warrant officer on duty the day the floor of the departures terminal of the airport was splashed with human waste.

On Wednesday he was testifying in the Bellville Regional Court in the matter involving nine people who were arrested for dumping the waste at the entrance of the terminal on June 25 last year.

In the dock, Ses’Khona People’s Rights Movement leaders Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla sat next to Yanga Njingwana, Ben Dyani, Bantubakwe Mgobodiya, Wandisile Mkapa, Jaji Diniso, Bongile Zanazo and Thembela Mbanjwa. They face charges of contravening the Civil Aviation Act.

Outside the court hundreds of protesters sang and danced. Inside, Wildschudt implicated four of the nine men who

emptied the containers at the airport.

Wildschudt, who identified Nkohla, Mbanjwa, Lili and Zanazo, followed Nkohla to a car where he found four more containers containing waste in the boot and assisted other officers to apprehend the men. He said he heard that more men had been arrested at a later stage.

The trial is set to continue on Thursday.

- Cape Argus

I've already gone crazy - Nkandla project manager

Nkandla project manager Jean Rindel says the scrutiny of the two-year investigation into the Nkandla contract has impacted on him significantly, saying he’s been under a microscope for more than two years.

Rindel is one of a dozen Durban Public Works officials who are facing disciplinary processes for their role in the Nkandla scandal. His case has been postponed to December 1, 2014. 

The Department of Public Works has charged the officials with maladministration for their roles in finalising the R246-million contract for renovations of President Jacob Zuma’s homestead.

Rindel was the project manager. His disciplinary hearing began on Monday but was postponed for the department to exchange documents with his legal representatives. Rindel is being represented by the Public Servants Association (PSA) along with 11 other officials.

Speaking about the case, Rindel compared the level of scrutiny on his life to that on Paralympian Oscar Pistorius.

“I have taken strain. It is impossible to go through something like this and not take strain. Oscar Pistorius lived under a microscope for a year. I have been living under a microscope for two years,” he said.

Rindel explained that he became aware that he was being investigated in November 2012.

“I am used to people looking at me. I’ve already gone crazy,” he said.

Asked to explain what he meant, Rindel said: "I have already taken strain. It has already impacted on me.”

Meanwhile the official said he would not answer for the actions of others.

“Where I got an instruction to do XYZ and it was from a higher authority, whoever gave that instruction must give an indication of why. Whatever is in my realm, I will take responsibility for,” he said.

Rindel said he intends on pleading not guilty.

“For everything that I was charged for, I have a reasonable reason for what I did,” he said.

Rindel would not give any insights into his defence, but said he could have made small errors on the project.

“I don’t think I did very much wrong. It was a five year project, I do not claim to be without error… At that point of time, to the best of my knowledge, I did what I thought was right,” he said.

The PSA is expected to request a postponement in all the disciplinary cases, as the employees.

“In these allegations they have made reference to a number of documents or evidence that these charges are based on. We had to ask for a postponement or an adjournment based on the fact that we did not receive all the documents,” said PSA provincial manager Claude Naiker.

Each of the officials is facing around 18 charges. Department Lawyer Philip Masilo said Public Works had anticipated a postponement of all the cases, since the first day was usually used for legal teams to exchange information and agree on hearing dates. 

Meanwhile, the Special Investigating Unit has taken the project’s architect Minenhle Makhanya to court, demanding he repay R155-million earned working on the project.

The case is yet to be argued in court. 

- eNCA

Human Settlements Minister Receives Lwandle Report

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says she will study the findings and recommendations of the report of the Ministerial Commission of Inquiry that probed the inhumane evictions of families in Lwandle, Cape Town.

The Commission of Inquiry chairman, Advocate Denzil Potgieter, and other members of the commission handed over a 296-page report to the Minister during a media briefing at the Imbizo Centre in Cape Town on Wednesday.

The inquiry was concluded at the end of September after public hearings in mid-July.

During a cold winter night in June, 800 families in Lwandle were evicted from an illegally-occupied land.

"I intend to take time to study this report and thereafter I intend to ensure that it is given to the various Ministers who are affected and all those parties that are affected, including the Minister of Human Settlements in the Western Cape, the Cape Town Mayor and SANRAL CEO.

"It will take me one day to study 296 pages of the report. To apply my mind, it takes me one week.

"After one week, I will then forward the report to the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements," she said.

Advocate Denzil Potgieter said while the inquiry enjoyed great public support, the Western Cape Provincial Government and the City of Cape Town did not cooperate.

"... It is to be noted, however, that the refusal by the government of the Western Cape - the Provincial Department of Human Settlements and the City of Cape Town in particular - to participate in the public hearings has hampered the work of the inquiry.

"We are nevertheless more than convinced at this juncture that having had public hearings, where parties were allowed to make oral presentations and allowed meaningful engagement with the members, has enriched the work [of the inqiry]."

Some of the recommendations that Potgieter highlighted were that amendments needed to be made to legislation that dealt with evictions and illegally occupied land, and the role of all officials in the chain of evictions.

Potgieter also recommended that the Minister take a look at the housing waiting list and consider launching a forensic investigation to probe all the challenges and shortcomings that came with the list.

He said the affected parties, who were invited to make presentations at public hearings, included institutions like the SA National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), SAPS, The Sheriff of the Strand, Western Cape Human Settlements Department, City of Cape Town, the Lwandle and Nomzamo evictees and NGOs.

- AllAfrica

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

Hempcrete Store Wins Sustainability Awards

The Science Museum has been honoured for its green credentials this month by scooping two prestigious awards for its new Hempcrete storage facility at Wroughton.

The innovative storage building which is made from hemp and lime, was honoured for its sustainable design by winning the Sustainability Award at the Museums and Heritage Awards – beating stiff competition from the BP Showcase Pavilion at the Olympic Park and the Museum of Surfing.

The Science Museum won in the Sustainability category at the Museums and Heritage Awards. Picture credit: M&H Show

The project was also recognised earlier this month at the Greenbuild Awards, where it won the Best Workplace New Build category – fending off competition from organisations such as Co-op and Network Rail.

Like many other national museums, the Science Museum only displays 8% of its collections to the public – there is just not enough space to display any more. The other 92% of the collection is housed in storage facilities. One of these storage sites is a former airfield near Swindon, which holds 16,000 objects including large scale items such as aeroplanes, trains and cars.

The Wroughton site houses large objects in aircraft hangars. Image credit: Science Museum

The Hempcrete facility was designed as a radical new solution to protecting objects including horse-drawn carriages, fine art works, wooden ship models and paper archives. Many of these objects are sensitive to changing climate conditions such as light, heat and moisture so providing the right environment is essential to prevent deterioration.

The solution was to create a zero-carbon storage building from hemp and lime – low carbon natural materials which provide temperature and humidity buffering and ensure that the museum’s collections are maintained for future generations.

The Hempcrete store is a new solution to preserving the museum’s sensitive objects. Picture credit: Science Museum

Matt Moore, Head of Sustainable Development, Science Museum said “I’m delighted that the Hempcrete project has won these awards and been recognised by the museums and building sectors. The project is part of a wider remit to reduce emissions across all our sites. Using science and engineering to look after the Science Museum collections seems to be a perfect solution to one of our biggest challenges.”

Hempcrete is a material made from hemp fibre and lime mortar mixed and moulded in precast, pre-dried cassettes to form Hemclad panels. The material is typically used to provide sustainable building materials for housing and industrial building sectors.

As well as protecting objects from deterioration, the Hempcrete facility allows the museum to reduce carbon emissions and make significant energy savings. The new store will be used to house valuable objects from the Science Museum as well as those of its sister museum – the National Railway Museum.

- The Science Museum Blog

13 OFFICIALS ORDERED TO DESTROY NKANDLA RECORDS - REPORTS

Reports say 13 officials were ordered to make no personal notes or audio recordings of Nkandla meetings.

A total of 13 public works officials have reportedly been ordered by high ranking government officials, including ministers, to destroy any records of secret meetings on upgrades to President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead.

In March, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, released her Nkandla report and found that Zuma and his family unduly benefited from the R246 million upgrades to his KwaZulu-Natal home.

Madonsela also recommended that he pay back a portion of the money used in the Nkandla upgrades.

The City Press is reporting that the officials plan to expose instructions from their superiors to bypass tender procedures and take shortcuts from 2009 when construction on the homestead begun.

The newspaper says the officials were ordered to make no personal notes or audio recordings of the meetings.

The City Press reports that the 13 officials will demand that travel documents and itinerates of the ministers and officials be produced to prove they attended secret meetings on Nkandla construction.

The officials have apparently been set up to take the blame for the inflated prices but will fight back and expose direct orders linked to the president.

One of their allegations is that Zuma personally instructed the department to appoint the architect who has subsequently been asked to pay back more than R150 million.

Disciplinary hearings held by public works are expected to hear evidence from December until March next year.

 An aerial view of Nkandla taken in August 2013 which was taken by an aerial mapping company using a hi-tech, high-altitude mapping aircraft.

A 2010 aerial view of Nkandla taken off Google Earth.

Yesterday opposition parties issued a stern warning to the African National Congress (ANC) and to the president.

They said Zuma must be held accountable for the multi-million rand upgrades to his Nkandla residence.

Opposition Members of Parliament have promised to table their own report on the scandal before the end of this month as they believe the Nkandla ad-hoc committee is illegitimate.

The parties withdrew from the Parliamentary committee last week.

They wrangled over whether witnesses could be called to testify and whether the public protector's report on the upgrades should be enforced.

The parties also accused the ANC of destroying everything late former president Nelson Mandela stood for.

- EWN

Opposition parties to table own Nkandla report

Opposition parties who withdrew from the Nkandla ad hoc committee will table their own report in Parliament, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane said on Friday.

“The opposition will table an opposition report to coincide with the ANC’s own study group report to be tabled in Parliament after 24 October,” he told reporters in Johannesburg.

Maimane said South Africa’s Constitution was under threat. “The opposition will not stand by while the Constitution is being vandalised.” He said the opposition needed to take “strong and deliberate steps”.

The committee was nothing more than an “ANC study group” and might as well conduct its meetings at ANC headquarters Luthuli House, rather than in Parliament, he said.

Maimane said the ANC would go to any length to protect President Jacob Zuma from taking accountability for the R246-million spent on his private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal. “All those who’ve been made scapegoats can come out and tell the truth. It will be a constitutional crisis if the ANC study group is allowed to ramp their report through Parliament.”

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota, and Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema were also in attendance.

The opposition withdrew from the committee in protest at the ruling party’s refusal to enforce public protector Thuli Madonsela’s finding that Zuma should pay for part of the project. – Sapa

No word from Zuma over Nkandla costs - Nhleko

Cape Town - Police Minister Nathi Nhleko has not received a formal request from President Jacob Zuma to determine whether the president had to repay a portion of state funds spent on his Nkandla home.

"There was no request received by the minister of police from President Zuma regarding determination on whether he is liable for any contributions in respect of security upgrades undertaken at his private residence," Nhleko said on Thursday.

He was responding to a written parliamentary question from Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota.

The DA said this answer showed Zuma never had any intention of refunding the state for some of the R246m spent on his KwaZulu-Natal estate as a security upgrade spiralled into excess.

"The DA contends that this reply by the police minister is clear evidence that President Jacob Zuma had no intention of paying back a portion of the R246m used for ‘security upgrades’ at his home at Nkandla whether it was determined by the police minister, the public protector or anyone else, for that matter," chairperson of the DA's federal executive James Selfe said.

In March, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found Zuma unduly benefited from the project and should, with the help of the police minister, determine which improvements did not relate to security and repay the state a reasonable amount for those.

Zuma, however, in a submission to Parliament on various investigations into the saga, said he would task Nhleko with determining whether he was liable to repay any of the money.

This week a parliamentary ad hoc committee considering Madonsela's report and his response, rejected any notion that Zuma should reimburse the state.

It consists of only ruling party MPs after the opposition walked out in protest at the ANC's reluctance to enforce Madonsela's order.

- SAPA

LETTER: Nkandla MPs enlighten

I WANT to thank the members of the African National Congress (ANC), especially those from Parliament’s ad hoc committee on the Nkandla saga. It took a week for ANC members on the committee to answer questions that have troubled me for years.

I asked myself: if Adolf Hitler was so evil, why did ordinary Germans keep on supporting him? If the apartheid system was criminal, why was it kept alive by some sections of the population?

I read books on Nazism and apartheid, but still could not get answers. I kept asking what kind of people would support such cruelty? The ANC representatives on the Nkandla committee were able to clear up my confusion.

Humans are the same, irrespective of their nationality, ethnicity, gender and religion. Our moral judgment is influenced by what we stand to benefit. If silence will guarantee our safety, then we will keep quiet.

If praise singing means extra rewards, we will make sure our voices shout the loudest. We will support what is wrong as we stand to benefit.

If Jacob Zuma’s presidency ensures my job, I will protect its existence with my life. I am no different from those who supported Hitler and apartheid.

I want to remind ANC representatives on the Nkandla committee that, as long as opposition parties are not part of the process, theirs is a hollow victory. Put the country first.

Dr Lucas Ntyintyane
Cresta

Report on Lwandle evictions completed

Cape Town - The ministerial inquiry's report into the Lwandle, Cape Town, evictions has been completed and will be handed over to Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, her office said on Thursday.

“The Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu has been informed by the chairperson of the ministerial (inquiry) on the eviction of Lwandle/Nomzamo residents advocate Denzil Potgieter SC, that the (inquiry) has completed its task,” spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya said in a statement.

The report would be handed over to Sisulu in Cape Town next Wednesday.

Sisulu set up the inquiry to probe the forced removals from the SA National Roads Agency Limited road reserve on June 2 and 3.

“At the time of the establishment of the (inquiry) the minister indicated that her main concern is that no citizens must ever be evicted without temporary accommodation,” Mabaya said.

- Sapa

‘Something smelly about loo audit’

Cape Town - The Social Justice Coalition has given the City of Cape Town four weeks to respond to its damning social audit and demand for a city-wide sanitation plan, or it will take legal action against the metro.

According to the findings of the SJC’s social audit of toilets in Khayelitsha, released on Wednesday, more than half of the 500 communal flush toilets inspected were dirty outside and almost half were so filthy inside that they could not be used.

This meant that toilet pans were blocked with excrement or rubbish, or that seats were so dirty that they could not used.

The SJC has repeatedly asked the city to provide an implementation plan for the janitorial programme which it said is costing ratepayers R60 million.

But the city has hit back, accusing the SJC of refusing to work directly with it to improve conditions in informal settlements.

“Why does the SJC not report faults when they occur, but rather wait to compile ‘dossiers’ with out-of-date data for maximum self-serving publicity?” said Ernest Sonnenberg, the mayoral committee member for utility services.

According to the SJC, one in four of the toilets inspected during the week-long audit in July were not working.

Out of these, 15 percent were blocked, 12 percent had no water and six percent no longer had a sewage pipe.

Although janitors are responsible for fixing minor problems, the social audit found that most of the toilets needed major or minor repairs. These included problems such as broken cistern covers, missing or broken toilet handles, missing water pipes or toilet pans and 76 of the 528 toilets had a broken or missing door.

The SJC reported that most of the janitors employed by the city had a contract and worked regular hours. Almost all of the 31 janitors interviewed lived in the section in which they worked.

However, the SJC found that the janitors lacked the equipment they needed to do an effective job.

None of the 31 had water pliers and only six had toilet brushes.

The audit also raised serious concerns about the safety of the janitors working in the area. Only four had received any health and safety training, while six had not had any training.

Most of the janitors - 87 percent - were not being inoculated against diseases.

“This would indicate that the (city) has not prioritised inoculation and that the vast majority of janitors have been exposed to the risk of disease.”

Some residents clean the toilets themselves, because of the random cleaning done by some of the janitors.

The SJC contended that, in the absence of a clear plan, the city’s janitorial service had been “haphazard, poorly implemented and regularly ineffective”.

SJC project manager Axolile Notywala said residents were not consulted when the city started the service in 2012, and many now believed that it was not operating effectively.

Notywala said the SJC has asked the city to release its janitorial service plan within the next four weeks, and also respond to the recommendations of the SA Human Rights Commission’s sanitation report that highlighted gross shortcomings in the provision of basic services in informal areas.

Responding to the city’s accusations that the SJC was targeting the metro, which provides residents with universal access to water and “adequate” sanitation, Notywala said: “We know the issues exist elsewhere, but our people are in Khayelitsha”. He said a sanitation plan could be used as a model in informal settlements in other areas.

Notywala said the SJC was still willing to work with the city on finding solutions.

But Sonnenberg said the SJC had yet to apologise for the “inaccurate” information circulated at a previous audit on area cleaning. Given the SJC’s “past disingenuous conduct and fundamental lack of understanding of the programme”, it would not be included in the city’s own assessment of its janitorial service that would determine the future of this pilot project.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Sad state of Khayelitsha toilets revealed

Cape Town - Only 36 percent, or 188 out of 528 toilets visited during a social audit on Cape Town's janitorial services, were found to be clean inside, the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) said in a report released on Wednesday.

Twenty-eight percent of the toilets were in a dirty condition, while 21 percent were very dirty.

The report stated that cleaning toilets was the janitorial service's primary function. These findings indicated that the service was failing residents.

Three-quarters of 193 residents surveyed said their toilet was usually locked.

This was also a problem for the janitors, who said they could not easily access toilets to clean them, slowing down the cleaning process.

Only seven percent, or 14 of the 193 residents asked, said janitors cleaned toilets in their area seven days a week, while a third said toilets in their area were cleaned only once a week.

Some residents had opted to keep the toilets clean themselves.

“At the public hearing, premier Helen Zille said that it is not a bad thing for residents to clean toilets themselves, pointing out that she cleans her own toilet at home,” the SJC said in the report.

The social audit also found that janitors were not equally distributed in all areas, and the provision and replacement of cleaning and maintenance equipment appeared to be inconsistent.

The SJC drew up a list of demands to the City of Cape Town in relation to the janitor service. These included repairs of all broken toilets, plans for how janitors would be evenly distributed in the informal settlements and an effective strategy to deal with the problem of locked toilets.

- Sapa

ANC: Zuma won’t pay the money

Cape Town - The ANC has given the clearest indication yet that President Jacob Zuma will not be asked to pay back any money for the Nkandla upgrades, dismissing the notion that Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s findings are binding as “absurd”.

The party said all reports on the upgrades must be treated equally.

It also took a swipe at opposition parties for their “despicable” conduct when they staged a walkout.

The party said it was not bothered by the opposition walkout because it was in the majority and not in a “government of national unity”.

Addressing the meeting in siSwati, ANC deputy chief whip Doris Dlakude said “the money they say was used irregularly was not used by the president”.

“The president didn’t build his house with state funds. The public protector says clearly that the president didn’t mislead Parliament and that he and his family built their own houses. All reports agree with that,” said Dlakude.

She said this was not the first time a president’s private home had been upgraded.

“It happened to previous presidents. The president didn’t steal taxpayers’ money in building his house. It was people who didn’t do their work, the accounting officers,” said Dlakude.

She also placed the blame on officials and on former public works minister Geoff Doidge without mentioning him by name.

Commenting on the opposition walkout, Dlakude told The Mercury the ANC members were “very comfortable” deliberating on the matter alone.

“As the ANC we are a majority. We won the elections. So we are not in a government of national unity,” said Dlakude.

Mmamoloko Kubayi (ANC) said the reports on Nkandla were common in that they all stated that Zuma had not asked for the upgrades.

“What is also common in the reports… is that the president had not requested all this. The second thing is that the president did not steal state money as per the reports,” said Kubayi.

ANC MP Mathole Motshekga said one should be “upfront” and say “the president has not violated any code of conduct because the report itself hasn’t said so”.

“The (public protector) finding says the conduct of president may have been unethical. Now what is the meaning of that?” said Motshekga.

At the beginning of the meeting Motshekga said there was a matter that had to be laid to rest.

“This is a matter that was discussed at great length raised by the honourable (DA leader Mmusi) Maimane who maintained that the public protector’s report contains remedial actions that must be followed because they are not merely recommendations.

“I want to indicate that those that saw Judge for Yourself (on eNCA) will have heard (Thuli Madonsela) herself concede that her findings were not binding, they were recommendations.”

Chapter nine institutions “cannot have overriding powers over all three arms of the state that are mandated to strengthen and support” democracy.

“Such a situation would be absurd. I do not believe the intention of the constitution and the Public Protector Act is to create a serial relationship between the public protector on one side and the executive and Parliament on the other side. I do not believe the constitution and the Public Protector Act envisaged such absurdity,” he said.

EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said the committee was no longer parliamentary “but a mere study group of the ANC”.

“This is because there is no sanity in insisting that this committee is of a democratic institution of a Parliament that defines itself as a multiparty system,” said Ndlozi.

Maimane said that with only the ANC members sitting, the committee was nothing more than a means to “whitewash the accountability of President Jacob Zuma”.

The committee would reconvene on October 9.

- Political Bureau