manager.^8 So, not only did the department fail to lay charges against
the alleged culprits, but the province and the local metro also provided
some of them with a safety net.
The axed officials, however, were not so lucky. I spoke to one of them.
This person provided me with a troubling account of events that
preceded their dismissal. This account is supported by documents filed
in arbitration proceedings and by corroboration from other sources.
The arbitration matter, instituted by five of the dismissed FSHS
staffers, was still ongoing at the time of writing.
When Sexwale first became aware of the R 1 -billion fiasco, he
desperately wanted to bring Magashule to book. That is why he
insisted that the SIU probe the matter. The unit’s investigation formed
part of a wider SIU probe into RDP projects in provincial departments
and municipalities all over South Africa. Their work on the Free State
contracts, however, was allegedly severely hampered and eventually
derailed by the involvement of Open Water, the forensic outfit
appointed by the department to investigate the matter in mid- 2012.
Although the firm was technically contracted by the FSHS, several
sources told me that the order to appoint it came from Magashule
himself. They maintained that Magashule had a close relationship with
Open Water’s chairman, Reavell ‘Ricky’ Nkondo, a former spy boss at
the National Intelligence Agency.
The premier’s official diary, obtained through a Promotion of Access
to Information Act (PAIA) request, confirms that there was contact
between Magashule and Nkondo after Open Water was appointed by
the FSHS. In one instance, Magashule met Nkondo for a ‘private
meeting’ at Free State House, the premier’s official residence, one
evening in mid-July 2013.
nora
(Nora)
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