Zondo commission told of ‘culture of fear’ around Vrede dairy farm project
The commission of inquiry into state capture has heard how the people who were supposed to benefit from the Vrede dairy farm project are living in fear.
This includes officials from the provincial government in the Free State.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) member in the provincial legislature, Roy Jankielsohn, appeared before the commission on Monday as the first witness to give testimony on evidence related to the project.
The Free State Department of Agriculture entered into a contract with a private IT company, Estina, to start a dairy farm project which was aimed at producing milk which would be sold across the country.
ALSO READ: Millions paid to Estina despite cancellation of Vrede contract
Jankielsohn said despite millions of rands spent by the provincial government, it never managed to achieve its goals.
Instead, beneficiaries are living in fear.
"The biggest crime that was committed here was when politicians give people hope and then dash those hopes. I think the public protector’s report also contributed to that as they did not effectively deal with that. There was also a very vocal beneficiary last year, Mr. Ngwenya, who was murdered and the rumour on the ground is that he was murdered because he was very vocal about this project. So there is a fear among beneficiaries to speak about it," he said.
According to Jankielsohn, Estina received over R136 million from the Free State government before it held up its end of the bargain.
"Within the Free State, we do have a culture of fear among officials. There is a culture of fear that if you speak out against malfeasance there will be consequences. You could lose your job and be intimidated. But in this specific case in 2013, we know for a fact that Moses Tshake was abducted, tortured and murdered, and it's alleged he was looking into and questioning some of the payments the department was making towards Estina."
He said he laid a charge after the then Premier Ace Magashule was quoted as saying that a former head of police in the province was poisoned at his funeral.
Jankielsohn said he has not received any updates from the Free State police despite the fact that it was reported two years ago.