Govt departments ‘underestimated’ costs to gain treasury’s approval – Fuzile

During his continued testimony at the first day of proceedings at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture this week, former treasury director general Lungisa Fuzile alleged that government departments would often purposefully underestimate the costs of projects in order to get budget approval from national treasury.

He used the Gauteng government’s Gautrain pitch as an example – it was estimated at R7 billion but really cost R25 billion.

Fuzile called this practice “budget gaming” and said it happened on a regular basis.

“Having worked with budgets for many years, I do know that people know that when you want approval for something you don’t say ‘it’s very expensive’,” said Fuzile.

This was revealed during the part of his testimony focused on a meeting where treasury and other stakeholders met with then-president Jacob Zuma in December 2015 to discuss the nuclear deal.

According to Fuzile, former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene raised concerns over the nuclear deal.

Based on the information he had access to, Fuzile testified that he was of the opinion that had the deal gone through, the country would have been in trouble.

“This was the biggest procurement ever in the history of the country, yet the processes were rushed … In my humble opinion, if nuclear had proceeded … actually, this country would have been in trouble,” said Fuzile.

Fuzile’s testimony continues at the state capture commission, with questioning being led by Advocate Vincent Maleka.

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