Mac Maharaj and the South African Police Services HQ leases
The new spokesman for the President, Mac Maharaj, can spin away until his face is bluer than a DA T-shirt: the fact remains that no one in SAPS, the Department of Public Works or the government in general has been able to give an innocent (spun or unspun) explanation for the conclusion of purported SAPS HQ leases in which the going rate of R40 per square meter for the office space let is ignored and the taxpayer is burdened with a rate more than three times in excess of the going rate. This is like paying R1250 for a R400 tank of petrol at the special pump manned by Roux Shabangu. No sane person would buy at so special a pump. The DA is accordingly well within its rights to call for the criminal justice administration to investigate a matter that reeks of corruption.This is a way of attempting to exact accountability from those who have remained dead quiet since the final report of the Public Protector was published more than a month ago.
If the DA thinks that the Hawks have the necessary sapiential authority and independent mindedness to actually properly investigate the charges laid, then the DA members who dreamt up the idea of laying charges should read the judgment of the Concourt in the second Glenister matter. From this they will learn that asking the SAPS and Hawks to investigate their boss and a cabinet minister is as likely to fly as a piglet fitted with butterfly wings.
Paul Hoffman SC
10 August, 2011
