Ndebele returns Mercedes

TRANSPORT Minister S’bu Ndebele on yesterday decided to return the top of the range Mercedes Benz he received as a gift, though President Jacob Zuma said he was entitled to keep it.

‘I have decided to voluntarily return the Mercedes Benz and two head of cattle that I received at a function in Pietermaritzburg last Saturday,’ he told a packed press conference in Cape Town.Ndebele said Zuma and the African National Congress leadership had advised him that he may keep the car, which is worth more than N$1 million, provided he declare it in the annual register of members’ interests at Cabinet and parliament level.He also insisted the lavish gift did not create a conflict of interest.But the former KwaZulu-Natal premier and transport MEC said he did not want the media outcry over the car to distract him as he settled into his new portfolio, or for the incident to sully his reputation.’I’ve had 15 fairly good years in government and the only thing I really have is my good name,’ he said.Ndebele came under severe media scrutiny after press reports revealed that he was given the Mercedes, along with fuel vouchers and two head of cattle, by businessmen who had benefited from KwaZulu-Natal’s Vukuzakhe government programme to help emerging contractors.The gesture was reportedly meant as thanks for Ndebele’s role in creating a platform for small contractors in the province.Ndebele confirmed that in the past 10 years, government had allocated close to N$10 billion in contracts to contractors associated with the programme.The Democratic Alliance and the Congress of South African Trade Unions had urged him to return the car to avoid a perception of conflict of interest.-Nampa-Sapa