On Now
Weekdays 15:00 - 18:00
The Joyride Nico, Nikki, Kayla and JayBee
NEXT: 18:00 - 19:00 OFM Business Hour with Olebogeng
Listen Live Streams

Central SA

Peter Thabethe heads back to State Capture Commission

───   LUCKY NKUYANE 08:23 Tue, 20 Aug 2019

Peter Thabethe heads back to State Capture Commission | News Article
Peter Thabethe PHOTO: eNCA

The former Free State Agriculture Head of Department (HOD), Peter Thabethe, will on Tuesday continue with his testimony at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry.


Thabethe will continue with his testimony regarding the controversial Estina Dairy Farm that has since been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The commission raised its concerns with the research done by the former HOD over some of the decisions he took. 

The evidence leader at the commission, Adv. Leah Gcabashe, quizzed Thabethe on what influenced the decision to appoint an Indian Dairy Milk Company, Paras, despite not being the largest milk producer in India and the world. Testifying before the commission, Thabethe outlined how the province was concerned over the number of small milk dairies that were closing down.

He initially told the commission that the Free State does not have processing milk facilities and farmers had to spend thousands to have milk transported to Gauteng to be processed and transported back to the province before it could be consumed. He later contradicted himself.

Gcabashe said she was concerned with the research given, namely that countries such as New Zealand, France, and the United States were amongst the biggest milk producers in the world with returns of billions in US dollars but still Paras were chosen.

Allegations stand that the notorious Gupta family, who had links with the Estina Dairy Project, facilitated the process for the appointment of Paras by the department. Thabethe, however, defended the appointment of the company and says the reason why they had chosen Paras was because of the milk production models that they were using.

Amongst his reasons for establishing the failed Gupta-linked Estina project, was that it would create jobs, get black farmers on board with regards to dairy farming, and help small farmers who had not entered into the industry on a larger scale. Thabethe’s first day at the hearing further placed procurement procedures in the Free State under the spotlight. This, as he had to explain the department’s rationale for entering into a contract with an Indian-based milk processing company - Paras - as their service provider, whereas there were other milk producers in India that rank higher.


OFM News

@ 2024 OFM - All rights reserved Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | We Use Cookies - OFM is a division of Central Media Group (PTY) LTD.