The three Public Works DGs, under whose watch the costs of the Nkandla security upgrades exploded, have escaped criminal prosecution. According to a parliamentary reply by Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko, the NPA declined to take these procurement-related criminal cases to court in July last year. This, notes Marianne Merten in a Daily Maverick report, ‘marks another chapter quietly closed without consequences in the Nkandla debacle’. While the political spotlight has fallen on President Jacob Zuma, the matter of who would be responsible for the cost escalation from an estimated R27m in 2009 to R215m at the last verified count in the Public Protector’s report remains outstanding. According to Nhleko’s parliamentary reply, one-time acting DG Solly Malebye, who resigned in early 2010, was charged over the engagement of Makhanya, R&G Consulting, Ibhongo Consulting and Igoda Projects (Pty) Ltd. Former DG Siviwe Dongwana faced charges over the hiring of Beta Fence and SA Bullet Resistant Glass Company (Pty) Ltd, and former DG Sam Vukela for recruiting Bonelena Construction Enterprise and Projects and E Magubane CC. But, notes the DM, nothing came of any of it. ‘On 28 July 2015, all these cases were nolle prosequi by the NPA,’ said Nhleko. The report adds the NPA also has yet to make a decision on the corruption complaint DA leader Mmusi Maimane laid against Zuma on 20 March 2014 at the Nkandla police station. Last month in another parliamentary reply, Nhleko said the docket was still with the NPA for a decision and ‘the details of the investigating officer cannot be disclosed to allow the investigation to be conducted without fear or favour’.

Full Daily Maverick report  

The Minister also revealed that the architect responsible for the Nkandla upgrades is not being investigated by police. A report in Die Burger notes that charges were laid against architect Minenhle Makhanya and the quantity surveyors involved in the project. Barnabas Xulu, Makhanya’s lawyer, said they haven’t heard anything from the authorities since the Special Investigations Unit instituted its R155m civil claim against his client.

Full report in Die Burger  

The upshot is that the DA is demanding a ‘very credible explanation’ from the NPA. According to a BDlive report, the DA’s Patricia Kopane said this week the party would ‘request the record of decision’ not to follow through with court action from the NPA. ‘The fact that … they were declared nolle prosequi by the NPA on 28 July last year‚ shows that the protection of Zuma’s pilfering of the state‚ and the actors who aided and abetted Zuma’s theft‚ has no bounds‚’ Kopane said, adding: ‘It is of national importance that the public receives an explanation from the NPA for this latest turn in the Nkandla scandal."

Full BDlive report