Ramaphosa advised to sanction Patricia de Lille

Minister of public works, Patricia de Lille is at the middle of a controversial issue after her department was accused of inflating the price of the Beitbridge border wall.

Some critics branded the project as a ‘glorified washing line‘.

After a thorough investigation, the SIU discovered that R14.1 million had been spent on the project without proper accountability.

Patricia de Lille denied being involved in the state-sponsored corruption, but she admitted to “receiving regular updates on the construction“.

The DA demanded that the minister should be allowed to face disciplinary action.

Shadow Deputy Minister of Public Works, Samantha Graham-Maré, also requested that President Cyril Ramaphosa should sanction the Cabinet member for allowing this alleged impropriety to happen.

“We will ask President Cyril Ramaphosa, as part of consequence management for impropriety by members of his Cabinet on COVID-19 procurement, to sanction Patricia De Lille for gross negligence in the exercise of her responsibilities. What Minister De Lille seems yet to realise is that the buck stops with her.”

“It is her job to ensure that projects undertaken by her Department are free of graft and corruption. It is her job to scrutinise the projects undertaken by her Department – especially one as important as the restoration of the Beitbridge border fence. The Minister is getting caught in a web of her own making.”

In total, the Beitbridge border post costs almost R40 million, but it is believed that the border could cost quarter of the amount.

14 officials who worked on the project will face further investigation to clear the air on this issue.

The tender and its subsequent awarding will now be thoroughly revisited.