By Doreen Mokgolo
- EFF opens a corruption case against Public Works Macpherson after he allegedly interfered in a tender payment at Waterkloof Air Force Base.
- The DA claims the allegations are revenge for Macpherson exposing corruption in an R800-million oxygen tender.
The EFF has opened a corruption case against Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson at the Pretoria Police Station.
The party says Macpherson broke the law by getting involved in tender processes at the Independent Development Trust (IDT).
The case follows an email Macpherson allegedly sent to a junior IDT staff member on 9 December 2024 about a payment to Lonerock Construction for work at Waterkloof Air Force Base.
In the email, Macpherson wrote: “You will appreciate that I don’t normally get involved in matters like this, but it appears that commitments have not been executed and now I am being dragged into this matter. Can I please receive an urgent report on why IDT has not done this and resolved this matter despite assurances that this would be done?”
EFF Secretary General Marshall Dlamini says this email proves the minister is corrupt.
“According to the executive members’ ethics, he has no role in the financial or operational matter on IDT. To demonstrate that his interest in running the department is only for corrupt activities, he didn’t go to the board or DG or the leadership of IDT but approached a staff member.
“His only interest is for this company to be paid, even when he was told that the payment had to be approved by the National Treasury,” he said.
The EFF wouldn’t reveal the tender amount to protect the staff member but said the contractor was hired to fix water leaks at the base.
DA national spokesperson Willie Aucamp defended Macpherson on Tuesday.
“The allegations come just as Macpherson is exposing, investigating and stopping serious corruption, including an R800-million scandal involving an oxygen tender. It was irregularly awarded by an entity known as the IDT within the department. The entity has been unable to submit audited financials since August and has now run out of money,” he said.
Pictured above: EFF SG Marshall Dlamini.
Source: Supplied
