Johannesburg - The Zondo commission resumes on Friday morning and will hear testimony from Moroadi Cholota - a former staffer for former Free State premier Ace Magashule.
Cholota had been mentioned in the testimony of former Free State MEC Mxolisi Dukkwana.
Dukwana told the commission the Free State department of human settlements had in 2014 awarded a controversial contract for the auditing of houses that were built with asbestos in the province. The contract was awarded to Diamond Hill, a company owned by businessman Ignatius Mpambani, and Blackhead Consulting, as a joint venture.
The price tag for the cost of the project was set at R255 million for assessing 300 000 houses. Dukwana said there were several issues with the contract and that it’s awarding to the two companies was done without tender processes being followed.
He also questioned the exorbitant money to be used to fund the contract as he believes the government could have conducted an audit of the asbestos houses without the need to hire a source. Dukwana said local councillors could have been used to draw this information.
"The constitution demands of a government to be very efficient, effective and economical in dealing with the public purse. Every municipality has ward committees, it has ward councillors. This could have been gathered using the people that are there at a local level without paying a cent. You will then know how many of the houses have asbestos,” he said.
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Dukwana said what was more concerning was how the funds for the project were being used to fund and assist close associates of now ANC secretary-general Magashule.
The former MEC provided emails which show how assistants to Magashule would communicate with Mpambani at various moments requesting funds to be paid to certain accounts. Dukwana insisted that this was done by Magashule’s staffers, Ipeleng Morake and Moroadi Cholota, on his behest.