'Official was set up'

2003-11-19 12:10

George - The professional team driving the Roodefontein development "set up" an official of the Western Cape's environment and planning department to expose his personal interest in the matter, the regional court in George heard on Wednesday.

Former Western Cape premier Peter Marais and his ex-environment MEC David Malatsi stand accused of taking thousands of rands in bribes to pave the way for provincial approval of the R500m golf estate in Plettenberg Bay's Piesang Valley.

Prosecutor Louis van Niekerk told the court the state intended leading evidence from the Roodefontein project manager, Robert Browning, of the firm Proactive.

He said Browning had already told the Scorpions in an interview that the departmental case officer in George who dealt with the development, Dr Steve du Toit, had had "personal interests" in the project.

Browning said the professional team had decided to "set him up intentionally", and told Du Toit - and no-one else - that the man behind the development, multimillionaire Italian Count Riccardo Agusta, intended to pull out if the department did not approve it soon.

Within a day, Browning said, the professional team had a phone call from Du Toit's friend Albie Burger, head of the Plettenberg Bay Environmental Forum, saying she had a friend in England who wanted to buy Roodefontein as the count was pulling out.

Van Niekerk said Browning maintained he had asked the independent environmental consultant working with the team, Cathy Avierinos, to tell Du Toit the count intended withdrawing.

However Avierinos, speaking from the witness box, denied this.

"I'm not aware of any set-ups," she said.

She did however recall a phone conversation with Browning in early 2002 in which the project manager told her the count would be pulling out if a decision was not forthcoming.

"I'm not aware of any personal interest of Steve's in this particular matter," she said.

She was, however, aware of pressures on him from his head office in Cape Town. Up to a certain point he had been happy with the information he was getting from the project team, but there was a "sudden change" towards the end of 2001.

The court has already heard evidence that the professional team became frustrated at repeated requests for further information from the department, and that the George office allegedly mislaid the original application for approval of the development, a fact which only emerged months later.

- SAPA