Thread by @TribunalSpecial

The R155 million trial of Mr Minenhle Makhanya gets underway in the Pietermaritzburg High Court before Judge Kantharuby Pillay.
Mr Makhanya is representing himself.
Adv Vinay Gajoo SC is for the SIU.

Adv Gajoo SC tells the Special Tribunal that the matter has been in the courts since 2014 and needs to be brought to finality in the interest of justice.
He says they will bring three witnesses: the chief investigator, the architect and the quantity surveyor.

The bundle of the pleadings is submitted to the Judge. These include the Rule 37(pre-trial) issues.
Adv Gajoo SC submits that the minutes of the case management are also included in the bundle.

Responses to the admissions to the Rule 37 are included with Adv Gajoo SC submitting that there has not been a meaningful response to the requests for admissions by the first respondent, Mr Makhanya.

Judge Pillay enquires if Mr Makhanya has been served with the bundles and is able to follow.
Adv Gajoo SC replies in the affirmative.

A list of issues provided by the Plaintiff has not been agreed upon with Mr Makhanya. The SIU will be able to take the Special Tribunal through the issues since they could not be confirmed.
On expert witnesses, a report has been included in the bundle. MR Makhanya still has to

provide a list of his witnesses and the evidence he will be relying on.
Application to compel the sought documents has been included in the bundle.

Adv Gajoo SC submits that there is public interest in the matter. Adv Gajoo says there will be detailed security issues which will arise during the trial

Mr Makhanya addresses the Judge.
He says it's the first time he is there on his own. He says he previously had legal representation and that he is a lay person. He says the SIU is using state funds to fight an ordinary man. He says he has run out of resources.

Mr Makhanya confirms he is representing himself as his financial situation is bad. He says he is not a lawyer and is not able to follow the legal proceedings.
He says he has prepared the written submission which he wishes to take the Special Tribunal through.

Mr Makhanya says he is so concerned about the media presence in court since he has been found guilty in the court of public opinion. He says there is much information out there in as far as his name has been mentioned in the public. He introduces his delegation which assisted him

The first witness takes the witness stand. Adv Gajoo SC leads the witness.
Judge Pillay explains to Mr Makhanya that he has the right to cross examine the witness.

The witnesses will testify in camera. This was after the Special Tribunal was alerted to the information detailing private security details of the former President.
Judge Pillay grants permission for the witnesses to testify in camera.

The first witness says in May 2009 the project to upgrade the security upgrades was undertaken. The police and the SANDF were involved in the preparation of the report and appointed and Mr Makhanya as the project manager through the Department of Public Works

The procurement instruction to do security upgrades at Nkandla was based on Mr Makhanya was done and funding sourced.
The project increased in scope as was the budget. The regular scope changes increased and ultimately stood at R216 million. The first budget was estimated to R27m

The witness says the adjustments did result in the protracted costs and led to the loss of R155 million way beyond the scope and the budgeted amount. The private professional team was appointed in an irregular manner, according to the witness.

The witness says it was interesting to know who took the decision to adjust the scope of work that resulted in the damages suffered financially by the State. The witness also says it would be interesting to know what action has been taken against those who implemented it

The chief forensic investigator of the SIU continues her witness in camera after a 15-minute adjournment break.
Judge Pillay reminds her that she is still under oath. There are volumes of bundles which form part of the trial record and include sketches of the private residence of

Mr Zuma.
The Judge asks Mr Makhanya if he is following the proceedings given his earlier indication that he was having difficulty with the legal processes.
Mr Makhanya confirms understanding and says he is ready to proceed with the trial

The Proclamation that authorized the SIU came following the recommendation of the Ministerial task team, the witness says, adding that their immediate mandate was to look at the procurement processes. She says they found irregularities in the procurement process

The investigation made the reference that other state departments were also involved. The SIU investigated several state officials, 15 consultants and contractors appointed by the Department of Public Works and those who influenced procurement processes.

The former Minister of Public Works , Ms Bogopane Zulu, was interviewed during the investigation and her testimony is included in the bundle as well as other high-ranking officials.

The SIU invited individuals involved in the project to be and interviewed. The contracts and consulting services were subpoenaed. Officials who have left the Department of Public Works were also sent detailed questions to respond.

Every piece of information was scrutinized and put to test to ensure that the information relevant to the information was extensively paid attention to.
There was information that was not made available especially by the contractors. 110 interviews where done

59 statements obtained, 75 bank accounts of Public Works officials scrutinized.
The results of the investigation and interviews have been included in the court bundle.

The witness says there were several over designs, over payments and over charging of amounts, 14 consultants with fraudulent certificates were found.

The former acting DG of Public Works, Mr Vukela, and other officials conducted the inspection and it was then that a full report was requested.
The SA Mental Health Services conducted the assessment as well.

Proper helicopter pad and upgrade of the security infrastructure were included and were not in the original scope of the work.
The funding of the project would come from the Department of Public Works.
This has been included in the affidavit in the bundle, Adv Gajoo SC submits.

The Department of Public Works conducted its oversight visit in May 2009 a few weeks after Mr Zuma ascended to the Presidency.
The costs then were at R27, 2 million.

The upgrading of the facilities outside the scope of the original work is a problem and resulted in the large scale increase of the costs, the witness says.

Adv Gajoo SC takes the Judge through the exhibits and directs her attention to one of the files. This is about the summary of the costing for the security upgrades of the assessments totalling R27, 2 million. The revised costing summary is looked at. It confirms the increase of

pricing. The witness says the amounts increased significantly after the former regional head of Public Works issued the request to have the project to commence. This related to the security upgrades of Mr Zuma's residence.

During the interviews, Mr Makhanya by the Department of Public Works it was not clear whether the SAPS and SANDF who have made the recommendation for the R27, 2 million upgrades were present.

The witness says according to the SAPS report, the designs had already been determined and amounts agreed upon whey they got involved. No costs measures were discussed with them, the witness says.

The witness says in the cause of their investigations they were made aware of the meetings to form the task team which was attended by the former President's security manager, the former Public Works, the former DG, Dr Ramakaal, and Mr Makhanya.

Mr Makhanya was assigned the responsibility of separation of the public and private funding, the witness says.
Mr Makhanya objects and interjects.
Judge Pillay explains to Makhanya that he must calm down and will be given an opportunity to cross examine the witness.

Judge Pillay asks Mr Makhanya to have a pen and paper and take down all the issues to which he will cross examine the witness on.

Proceedings adjourn for lunch and will resume at 14H00.

Proceedings resume. The witness is reminded that she is still under oath

The witness says in October 2009 SAPS submitted its report to the Department of Public Works. The Zuma family requested further assessment from SAPS and it was undertaken at the directive of the Department of Public Works.

The other additional report set out all the areas that needed to be included. It differed from the original report. The appointment of Mr Makhanya as the principal architect is under scrutiny.

The relevant provisions: at the request of the President, SAPS report, consideration of the security of the President. The proposal on appropriate security measures was due to be placed before Cabinet for endorsement. The witness says it was not clear at what point the Cabinet

The Department did not do due diligence in the project oversight and derelicted its duties. The Department did not make sure that there was compliance with legislative prescripts, the witness says.

The witness details legislative prescripts governing procurement in terms of the SAPS Act, SANDF Act, Public Finance Management Act and says the Department of Public Works did not comply with its Constitutional obligations.

The National Treasury regulations require that proper planning should be in place and that the procurement should be done in compliance with the law. According to the witness, several areas are of concern as there were discrepancies in the procurement processes.

The witness takes the Special Tribunal through the Treasury note on procurement deviations. According to the witness, there was no need for deviation.

The witness submits that the Department of Public Works did not ensure that it sourced the services of the service provider who was on the database and it was found that supply chain management policies were not complied with.

The witness says there was no justified urgent or emergency situation in the procurement. She says the submissions indicated that the security upgrades were an emergency yet did not meet the conditions of emergency procurement.

The professional fee of R2 million paid to Mr Makhanya based on the appointment letter is has been questioned. The witness says there is no justifiable basis for that.

With regard to the manner in which the procurement was to proceed, it was submitted that Mr Makhanya had done work at Mr Zuma's residence before and the family preferred that he be retained as the architecture.

On 5 August 2009 the Department of Public Works confirmed in writing that the budget for the security upgrades was R27. 2 million

It was argued that the Ministerial Handbook was irrelevant. The budget was approved on the 12th August 2009 and that the procurement was needed urgently.
SAPS ought to have submitted the certified report and advise the Minister of Safety and Security.

The key accounts management which is responsible for budget approval within the Department of Public Works made the budget available based on the urgency as per the requesting memorandum.

Funds amounting to R27, 2 million were approved and made available on 18th August 2009

The amount of the estimated costs approved was R27, 2 million, the witness confirms.

The infrastructure needs which involves the requirements by the SAPS and SANDF were however not included, the witness says.

Former Minister Geoff Doidge is understood to have been aware and also made inputs during meetings to prepare for roll out of the security upgrades, says the witness.

The appointment of the private professional team to work with Mr Makhanya is being examined.

Former Minister Geoff Doidge, former President's security manager, Mr Makhanya and the other team members met to discuss the rolling out. However the witness says they were not registered as consultants but it was not clear where and how they were appointed

The witness says there was no open tender and / or competitive bidding in the appointment of Mr Makhanya as the principal architect of the Nkandla upgrades

The witness testifies that Minister Doidge, former Minister Bogopane Zulu and a Mr Vukela, DDG Samuel all said the project was running behind schedule. No instructions issued in formal meetings though

Mr Zuma, it is submitted, raised concerns about the progress of the work with former Minister Doidge, the witness says.

Proceedings adjourn for day one and will resume at 09H30 tomorrow (Tuesday) with the same witness proceeding to give testimony.