Public Works and Administration Minister Patricia de Lille will on Thursday meet with National Treasury which Parliament’s finance watchdog has tasked to investigate her role in the awarding of a tender for the Beitbridge border post fence project.
SCOPA says it wants National Treasury to investigate what directive De Lille issued on the project at the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
On Monday, the Special Investigative Unit produced a report on the project. It found that the overall cost of construction and engineering fees should have amounted to R26.1 million, but was ultimately overpriced by R14.3 million bringing the total value of the tender to R40.4 million.
De Lille is adamant that she did not benefit from the tender.
“If there’s any evidence that I have benefited personally from the Beitbridge border post, you know, I must be held accountable. So I’m very happy with the work done by the SIU. Like I was saying, I’m meeting with National Treasury today, I will not interfere with their report – I will never run away from any investigation. I think that South Africans must now all work together to stop the corruption in our country.”
In the video below, Minister De Lille speaks on the matter:
