Public Works and Infrastructure Department director-general Sam Vukela has released, in court papers, two documents that seek to prove that Minister Patricia de Lille was lying when she said she did not interfere in procurement.
As the storm around the suspension of Vukela grew recently, De Lille dug in her heels, insisting she never insisted on the use of certain private firms to do work for the department, which regularly issues lucrative contracts.
The letters seem in direct violation of the Public Finance Management Act, which prohibits politicians from involvement in procurement and tenders. Vukela this week filed papers at the high court in Pretoria in a bid to interdict the disciplinary proceedings instituted against him by De Lille, the former DA mayor of Cape Town.
In one of the letters, signed and dated July 16 2019, De Lille allegedly asked Vukela to facilitate the appointment of digital multimedia agency Oryx Multimedia, to be appointed to review the department’s multimedia positioning.
“May you kindly facilitate the appointment of a consultancy company, Oryx Multimedia. I’ve attached the company profile for your perusal and request the start date to be 1 August 2019,” the letter reads.
In another letter, dated June 28 last year, De Lille allegedly instructed Vukela to appoint a consultancy firm that specialises in facilities and property management. She allegedly wanted the company to survey unregistered land, conduct physical verification of immovable assets, leases as well as relevant creditors and debtors. “
May you kindly facilitate the appointment of a consultancy company that specialises in global superior facility and property management for three months. I request their services in order to assist with thorough verification of all immovable assets managed by the Department of Public Works and infrastructure,” read the second letter.
In his affidavit, Vukela said the disciplinary proceedings against him were instituted with an ulterior motive by De Lille, adding that they were designed to remove him “so that the minister can orchestrate the appointment of an individual who is more pliable to her unlawful and unreasonable instructions”.
Last month, De Lille suspended Vukela over allegations of overspending on official funerals and irregular appointments in the department. De Lille did not answer direct questions on whether she authored the letters or not, saying she was busy preparing her response, which will be made public once submitted to court.
“I will respond to all the allegations contained in director-general Sam Vukela’s affidavit in my responding affidavit, which will be ready for the hearing scheduled for the ninth of September. I will certainly have my turn in court next week,” she said.
She said the department had a bad reputation of corruption before she arrived. De Lille charged that there was a funeral scam, people with no qualifications were being appointed to senior positions and that there was corruption in the leasing of buildings, among others. “I will stop at nothing. I am on a mission to clean up the department and put criminals in jail,” she said.
