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Public Works Minister, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, revealed in a reply to a parliamentary question on Friday, that a court application will be brought to set aside the validity of the SAPS lease which has been the subject of the Public Protector’s investigation. The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes this.
However, she stated that the case has not yet been brought to court because “the application papers are still being finalised by counsel”.
The Minister promised in a press conference on 21 June this year that she would approach the court to ask it to rule on the validity of the lease agreement. She was quoted in an article on Sowetan Live, as saying that she had “started engaging” her legal unit, and that she made the announcement on that day instead of later, because a Sunday Times report had made it “urgent for her to do so”.
Considering that her department is facing a potential R1 billion lawsuit from Roux Shabangu, who has confirmed that he has “no option” but to approach a court to enforce the lease agreement, and given that she has had detailed senior counsel opinion on the matter since November last year, what possible explanation can there be for the fact that papers have still not been finalised by counsel, some six weeks after she made the announcement?
She has yet to explain why she has not taken this action far earlier, given the vast negative publicity surrounding this matter, and the fact that she is in possession of two senior counsel opinions recommending that this be done. We would expect the Minister to treat this matter as one of the utmost urgency, given that the longer she delays, the greater the risk of Mr Shabangu taking the matter to court, and the greater the perception that there is corruption involved here.
The President has six days to finalise his response to the Public Protector. Any possible explanation for this dereliction of duty on the part of the Minister will be enlightening, even more so, if there is no explanation at all.