Two Permanent Secretaries (PS) have been requested to explain why they were negotiating a lease agreement with a business magnate, Seyed Jamali, at a time when he was facing corruption charges at the High Court.
The two Permanent Secretaries, from the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security and the Ministry of Lands and Housing, were warned after they were summoned to appear before the Committee and instructed to bring explanations on whether it was not awkward to negotiate with Jamali while they were directly involved in the case.
The Committee warned that the two should give it insight on why the land magnate, who was charged along with the former Ministry of Lands and Housing, was given an opportunity to discuss the lease agreement with them during the night while during the day they claimed to be fighting with him in court.
The two have also been summoned to appear before the Public Accounts Committee over a decision that resulted in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security obtaining a lease agreement from Jamali to house the Ministry Headquarters at the CBD.
The two are also being blamed for a decision to lease a building belonging Jamali without following procurement procedures.
The Ministry of Lands and Housing’s Permanent Secretary, Thato Raphaka, owned up to their mistakes of signing the lease agreement Jamali without following the procurement procedures.
However, Raphaka put the blame on the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security, which he said went ahead to partition the building before they engaged the Public Procurement and Assert Disposal Board on the procurement.
He admitted that the procurement procedures were not followed because the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security went ahead to partition the building after they completed negotiations with Jamali.
Raphaka said that he was pressurized by Jamali to sign a lease agreement since the ministry had started partitioning the building, which currently remains unoccupied.
Raphaka stated that the PPADB has since refused to be involved in the procurement after it became evident that the whole process of obtaining a lease agreement was flawed.
He stated that the PPADB declined to help, stating that they were not going to get involved since the ministry went ahead to acquire a building from Jamali without following procurement procedures.
He said that he was not aware if the ministry is paying rentals for leasing the building in the CBD because they had not yet relocated.
