The Democratic Alliance said on Friday that claims former minister of defence Joe Modise abused his office for personal gain was a further blow to the government.

Spokesperson Raenette Taljaard said the allegations against Modise go "to the heart of problems of executive accountability and corporate governance principles at our parastatal boards yet again".

Taljaard was reacting to the Mail & Guardian (M&G) newspaper's report on Friday that the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions confirmed it had information in its possession that Modise is the owner of a six-bedroomed home built partly with taxpayers' money.

The house is located in Eldoraigne Extension 3, in Midrand, Gauteng.

'The DA is disgusted'

The M&G said that after having the home partly erected by his own builder, "Modise booted out the private builders and called in workers from Denel Properties", a subsidiary of the arms manufacturer.

It further quoted the directorate as saying it would not prosecute the former minister.

Work started on the residence in early 1996, when Modise was still minister of defence.

Taljaard said: "The DA is disgusted at further revelations about the former minister of defence Joe Modise. One can but ask how this decision slipped by the financial scrutiny of the Board - a Board that presided over such a squandering of taxpayer's money."

She said the DA would be requesting the joint investigating team to step up their efforts to uncover further the activities of Modise.

'Gift' was not declared by Modise

In a statement released on Friday, Denel spokesperson Thembi Tulwana said the report contained inaccuracies which were damaging to Denel's image.

Tulwana said some coverage was given in the local media during the past two days about the involvement of Denel Properties (Pty) Ltd (Denprop), a subsidiary of Denel, on construction work done to the house of former defence minister Joe Modise.

Tulwana said Denprop tendered for a completion of "certain finishing" to Modise's house at the initiative of Denel Senior Management in early 1995. The house's basic structure of was already complete.

"In March 1995, Denel entered into a formal contractual agreement with Modise and the work was completed in the ensuing months. In July 1995, Modise paid the full contractual price to Denel as stipulated in the contract and no loan of any nature or form was granted to him."

Tulwana stated that at the time of the contract no family members of Modise served on the Board of Denel.

She said more than four years after the contract was completed and paid for, an Auditor General's representative approached Denel and a full audit on the matter was conducted.

"Denel gave its full co-operation."

"Denprop is a commercially focused construction company, which amongst others is involved in residential projects for the general public. It normally initiates large projects, which are then marketed commercially. It also has the capabilities and flexibility to execute smaller projects like the one in question," Tulwana said.

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) earlier on Friday also said that it was "disgusted" at the report.

UDM leader General Bantu Holomisa said it appeared this "gift" was not declared by Modise, who was an MP and cabinet minister at the time.

"This is... in direct contravention of the rules governing the conduct of ministers and MPs."

Holomisa was referring to Parliament's register of members' interests, in which MPs are each year expected to disclose the nature and value of any gifts they received.  

With acknowledgement to Sapa and Independent Online.