Public protector finds Zille used her powers to benefit her son

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has found that Western Cape Premier Helen Zille “exposed” herself to a risk of conflict of interest between her official responsibilities and personal benefit when she involved herself in the process of securing tablets for Western Cape schools.

UPDATE: ‘I did nothing wrong.’ Helen Zille to take public protector’s finding against her on review

Zille, she found, violated the Executive Members Act by assisting her son to loan tablets from the province’s education department so he could offer extra maths lessons to disadvantaged matric pupils.

ANC MPL Cameron Dugmore laid a complaint early last year with the public protector accusing Zille of putting pressure on officials to kick-start her son Paul Maree’s business, Paper Video.

Zille at the time allegedly insisted that nothing “untoward” happened as the tablets were issued to her son in his capacity as a teacher at the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha.

She further said her son had not started his company at that point and was offering his services for free.

Mkhwebane said the exchange of emails between the premier, director-general of the Western Cape and senior officials between September and October 2014 violated the code of conduct.

“The investigation revealed that the premier’s relationship with her son constituted private interest, which appears to have influenced the exercise of her official duties.

“The premier engaged the MEC and escalated performance by the supplier of the said tablets in order to facilitate access of the tablets by her son. Even though he was a teacher of the Western Cape department of education, access of tablets was not secured as tools through normal departmental channels but through intervention of the premier – which created an appearance of impropriety.

“Though it had been done to benefit schools in the Western Cape, the process made it look like she was promoting her son’s business,” said Mkhwebane.

In one of the emails seen by the Sunday Times last year that was sent to director-general in the premier’s office Brent Gerber, Augi de Freitas reportedly said the request for information for the tablets was issued with the shortest advertising time frame possible and would be evaluated as “a matter of urgency”.

The email was reportedly forwarded to Zille, who thanked Gerber for “all the efforts to this ready by the holidays, to the benefit of students”.

“That is what Paul and Chris were aiming for and worked day and night for eight weeks to be ready in time. I am keen to encourage that level of dedication wherever it raises its head,” Zille was quoted as saying in the email.

However, Zille insisted that nothing “untoward” had happened as the tablets were issued to Maree in his capacity as a teacher at the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha.

She further said her son had not started his company at that point and was offering his services for free.

Read more: Zille accused of ‘pressurising’ officials to ‘boost’ her son’s business

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