Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
DEPUTY Minister of Public Works Jeremy Cronin has leapt to the defence of his boss, Thulas Nxesi, saying he should not be reprimanded by President Jacob Zuma on the Nkandla mess.
Nxesi refused to take responsibility for the debacle, saying it did not happen under his watch.
Cronin told Parliament yesterday during the debate on the budget of the Department of Public Works that the Constitutional Court and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, called for Zuma to reprimand former public works minister Geoff Doidge.
He said nowhere in the Constitutional Court judgment or the public protector’s report is there reference to Nxesi, but his predecessor, Doidge.
In his defence against attacks from opposition MPs, Nxesi said: “As minister of Public Works, I took responsibility for Nkandla when I came in, and not for the irregularities as they did not happen under my watch.”
Cronin quoted a section from Madonsela’s report that Doidge and former police minister Nathi Mthethwa should be reprimanded. Doidge is now South Africa’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka after he was fired by Zuma in 2010.
“Let us remind ourselves that Minister Nxesi was appointed in October 2011, long after the tenders had gone out,” said Cronin.
He said 12 officials were undergoing a disciplinary hearing. They shared their report with Madonsela.
Nxesi said the department had to tighten supply-chain management procedures to prevent another corruption of such a grand scale.