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Zwane denies threatening ex-HOD to sign ‘illegal’ recovery plan

Former human settlements MEC Mosebenzi Zwane told the State Capture Commission that the decision to make advance payments to suppliers was taken by the executive committee and that he had signed it off.

Former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane. Picture: Gallo Images/Sowetan/Veli Nhlapo

Former Free State MEC for human settlements Mosebenzi Zwane has denied threatening the department’s former head (HOD) Mpho Mokoena with losing his job if he refused to sign an “illegal” intervention plan the Zwane had proposed in 2010.

Zwane was on Friday responding to Mokoena’s testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, that the former MEC had said in Setswana that the former HOD would “walk next to his shoes”, which means he would suffer following his resignation if he refused to implement the plan.

The chairperson of the commission, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, previously heard from Mokoena that the plan proposed by Zwane was to make advance payments to suppliers in a R1 billion housing construction project.

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“Chair I never said anything of that sort,” Zwane said regarding allegedly telling Mokoena that he would “walk next to his shoes”.

Zwane turned to a departmental presentation, in which Mokoena acceded to the point that the advance payments exposed the department to risk and had been done before the “illegal” plan was signed on 25 November 2010 and before a 18 November 2010 MuniMEC meeting where the advance payment system was rejected.

Mr Zwane deals with contractors advance payment system. #StateCaptureInquiry

— State Capture Commission (@StateCaptureCom) December 11, 2020

“The point I’m making, chair, is that, in terms of this information, when it was asked why was the advance payment made, and that was put to the HOD, Mr Mokoena, my reading here is that he admitted that when he was told that he should not continue with the advance payment, that advance payment had already been done,” Zwane said.

ALSO READ: Zwane was ‘unaware’ of requirements of his job as MEC, Zondo commission hears

Zwane denied that he had been a “monster” when he was MEC of the department and had created a situation where Mokoena feared him.

Zwane also denied that he told a meeting where he proposed his “illegal” plan, that he said he had been advised that it was, indeed, legal.

Zwane told Zondo that the decision to make the advance payments was taken by the executive committee and that he had signed it off and agreed to it.

The commission continues. Watch live below, courtesy of the SABC.