The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) welcomes the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of applications for leave to appeal by two construction companies seeking to overturn the Special Tribunal’s ruling regarding the Beit Bridge border fence scandal.
The Tribunal ruled that all proceeds must be repaid.
The Constitutional Court found that the merits of the appeal by Profteam cc and Caledon River Properties, trading as Magma Construction, do not engage its jurisdiction.
In 2020, the Freedom Front Plus welcomed the Special Tribunal’s ruling that contractors were paid millions even before any work on the Beit Bridge border fence had begun.
The end product delivered by these contractors was the notorious “washing line” spanning 40 km between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) took the two companies to court in an effort to recover the R40 million spent on the fence.
The ones who lost the most in this scandal are taxpayers and the state. The Freedom Front Plus confronted the then Minister, Patricia de Lille, about the matter several times in Parliament. The party also pointed out that she apparently had no control over the project, that she had exploited the COVID-19 Disaster Management Act to erect the fence, and that she should accept responsibility for it.
She allowed the project to proceed without ensuring that the relevant procurement procedures were followed.
The Freedom Front Plus still hopes that every effort will be made to recover the funds lost by taxpayers and the state.
