Cape Town - Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has carried out preliminary investigations into construction company Filcon, but said it was unaware of the ANC’s bid to haul its former boss, Thuli Madonsela, before Parliament.
The party wanted Madonsela to give an account as to why the Public Protector was dragging its feet in investigating the suspected corruption scandal after the ANC lodged a complaint in 2014.
However, Mkhwebane’s office yesterday confirmed to the Cape Argus it had received a complaint on the matter, and it was up to Madonsela’s successor to decide on a further course of action.
“Yes, a preliminary investigation was conducted,” Public Protector spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said.
Filcon was contracted by the City of Cape Town and the provincial government to carry out construction work which later ground to a halt after the company ran into financial difficulty and filed for business rescue.
The ANC chief whip in the council, Noluthando Makasi, had lodged the complaint with the Public Protector, to investigate how R400 million of taxpayers’ money was paid into the project.
“The DA administration paid R400m rand of taxpayers’ money to Filcon three years after the first of eight separate liquidation applications had been lodged against it in the Western Cape High Court.
Although Filcon was paid by the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Government, certain contracts were not completed and some sub-contractors were not paid.
The council denied it was involved in Filcon’s struggles.
The office of the Public Protector failed to respond to questions about their investigation into Filcon, at the time of publication.
CAPE ARGUS