Frustrated, the suspended officials turned to the SIU in Bloemfontein.
‘We asked the SIU if we could see the Open Water report or any of the
documents that supposedly proved we were guilty,’ my source
explained. ‘He told us Open Water took all the department’s records.’
Even the SIU failed to obtain the Open Water report, my unit source
told me. Pieterse claimed the SIU never asked for the Open Water
report.
Five of the axed FSHS officials, meanwhile, decided to fight back.
They instituted arbitration proceedings against the department in which
they challenged the outcome of their internal disciplinary hearing.
Their filings^18 laid bare the alleged involvement of Magashule’s office
and the roles played by Zwane and his fellow department bosses in the
most fundamental decisions that led to the R 1 -billion RDP splurge.
‘They [the axed officials] simply fell victim to a modern government
contagion – i.e. that the powers that be go about their functions in
certain ways (whether lawfully or motivated by malfeasance),
implement what is decided in higher structures, and when the actions
go wrong some subordinate is sacrificed at the altar of the true
culprits,’ their legal counsel contended.
Drawing on heaps of documents and records, their submission alleged
that ‘the scheme’ was orchestrated by Magashule’s office and
implemented by the likes of Zwane, Mokoena and Dlamini: ‘It cannot
be overstated that this entire model and the operation of the scheme ...
emanates from the office of the Premier and employees in the
Department responsible for legal compliance.’
The cornerstone of the ERP, namely the contracts between the FSHS
and the various contractors, was in fact sanctioned by Magashule’s
own office, the axed officials argued. ‘The chairperson [of the
nora
(Nora)
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