Will Mkhwebane’s new Vrede report hold up to scrutiny?

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has ordered that Free State MEC for agriculture, William Bulwane, “apologise” to beneficiaries of the failed R250m Estina Dairy Farm project and “revive” the project, leading to more questions over whether her remedial action addresses the actual issue of the complaint.

In her findings released on Monday, the public protector found that former Free State premier Ace Magashule and former Agriculture MEC, Mosebenzi Zwane, failed to practice oversight in the Vrede dairy farm project. Mkhwebane said there was political interference in the project that saw millions of Rands meant for the development of black farmers channelled to the Gupta family, and paying for the 2013 wedding ceremony of Vega Gupta in Sun City.

She said in failing to ensure proper oversight, accountability, management and implementation of the project, the conduct of Zwane, former head of Free State agriculture department, Peter Thabethe, former MEC Mamiki Qabathe, and Estina resulted in the beneficiaries being prejudiced leading them to lose the benefit of development and their 51% shareholding in the project.

Mkhwebane ordered Bulwane to “issue an official apology” to the beneficiaries of the failed project for the prejudice they have suffered within 30 working days of the release of the report.

ALSO READ: Investigator breaks down how Guptas raked in R229m from Estina project

She also ordered the MEC to revive the project, with beneficiaries as 51% shareholders, within two months.

Levy Ndou, Tshwane University of Technology political analyst, however, was critical of the public protector’s remedial actions, saying these were frivolous, considering the money already lost in the project.

He said these were the sort of remedial actions that resulted in Mkhwebane’s reports being set aside in the courts, because she tended to deviate from what she was asked or was supposed to investigate.

“We need to look at why there was a complaint in the first place, because money got lost, the funds intended for the project were stolen. What we would expect from the findings is who stole the money, how, and what needs to be done to recover the money? There is nothing wrong with reviving the project. But where is the money?” he asked.

READ MORE: Mkhwebane loses ConCourt bid to appeal Vrede dairy farm judgment

Mkhwebane’s handling of the Estina Dairy Farm investigations has been disastrous, with her previous report into the project set aside, and the Constitutional Court throwing out her bid to appeal the scathing North Gauteng High Court judgment against her in this regard.

She had earlier tried to appeal the judgment handed down on May 20 last year, in which Judge Ronel Tolmay ruled  that Mkhwebane had failed the people of South Africa in the way she dealt with the investigation.

Judge Tolmay in delivering judgment at the time declared that the public protector had failed to fulfil her constitutional duties, that her “dereliction of duty” in the Estina matter was “more lamentable” than in her report on ABSA/Bankorp and the Reserve Bank, which was also overturned with costs, and that she had “turned a blind eye to South Africa’s most poor and vulnerable”.

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