Issued by: Ministry of Housing
STATEMENT ON THE MPUMALANGA RURAL HOUSING PROJECT BY HOUSING MINISTER SANKIE MTHEMBI-MAHANYELE
Further to the release of the Special Report of the Auditor-General into the Mpumalanga Rural Housing project (South African Housing Fund) there have been media reports containing speculative and ungrounded suggestions or innuendo regarding myself. I have remained silent in the face of such statements because of my respect for the various independent inquiries that have been established to inquire into the Mpumalanga Rural Housing Project matter. Now that the Dreyer Commission has reported. I believe I can now reply on at least two issues.
Firstly, although some newspaper reports have suggested that the awarding of a contract to Motheo Construction was as a result of a relationship between one director the said company and myself, these reports have not once provided proof of such a damaging and defamatory allegation. I wish to publicly confirm that I do not play any role in the evaluation and awarding of provincial housing project tenders. The Dreyer Commission has now confirmed that the national Ministry had no influence over the awarding of this project.
Secondly, there has been considerable comment of the precise nature of the termination of the contract of the former Director-General of the Department of housing Mr W J Cobbett. Much of this comment has been contrived to manufacture a dispute, not on the known facts, but on the right word to be given to describe the termination of this contract.
The facts themselves are well known. The relationship between Mr Cobbett and myself became such that Mr Cobbett himself on May 5, 1997, offered to accept an early release from his fixed term contract, subject to being appropriately compensated therefor. On May 12. 1997, I regretfully and in writing, agreed to the early termination and stated that I would ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration to take the necessary steps with regard to the processing of this termination.
This is not the first nor will it be the last time that such an early termination of a Director-General's contract has taken place. Some might refer to it as "resignation", others as "being fired". None of these terms might accurately reflect the true nature of the termination but in view of the fact that all the parties are and were aware of the precise nature of the termination and its consequences it is really a waste of time to embark on a public debate simply in regard to the proper legal term to be used to describe it.