SUDDEN U-TURN: These include the R500 million, 10-year lease deal for the Middestad building in Pretoria, and a R1,1 billion deal between Roux Shabangu and public works for the police's KwaZulu-Natal headquarters in Durban, which later lapsed

PUBLIC Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde is set to go to the High Court to ask it to cancel the R500 million police headquarters lease deal her department signed with property mogul Roux Shabangu.

Mahlangu-Nkabinde made the announcement at a hastily arranged media conference at the Burgers Park Hotel in Pretoria yesterday afternoon. The dramatic about-turn follows a series of exposés in the Sunday Times since August last year concerning Shabangu and his property deals, allegedly facilitated by national police commissioner General Bheki Cele.

These include the R500 million, 10-year lease deal for the Middestad building in Pretoria, and a R1,1 billion deal between Shabangu and public works for the police's KwaZulu-Natal headquarters in Durban, which later lapsed.

In a report on Sunday, the newspaper detailed the contents of the Public Protector's second report into the lease scandal, titled Against the Rules Too, which follows an earlier one which stated that the Pretoria lease was "invalid".

The report, marked "provisional" - as it was sent to Mahlangu-Nkabinde, Shabangu and Cele, as well as President Jacob Zuma, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who have until today to comment on its contents - says:

• Mahlangu-Nkabinde was guilty of "improper" conduct and failed "statesmanship" for going ahead with both leases after two legal opinions found them invalid;
• That Mahlangu-Nkabinde placed pressure on her director-general Siviwe Dongwana to sign the lease agreement, and he feared for his personal safety and that of his family;
• Cele was guilty of "maladministration" and "unlawful" conduct for driving the R1,1billion Durban deal;
• The Treasury should consider blacklisting Shabangu's company, Roux Property Fund, for its involvement in "unlawful and irregular procurement";
• Rentals for both buildings were inflated by up to 300 percent. In Durban alone, floor space worth R78 million was added without justification; and a new tender issued for the Durban lease in April but shelved after the Sunday Times exposed it last month was allegedly rigged to suit a previous offer by Shabangu.

Yesterday Mahlangu-Nkabinde said when the leases were concluded in July last year she was still deputy minister of economic development and so could not have applied pressure to anyone.

She said she sought an opinion from the office of the chief state law adviser because she was "not comfortable" with the previous reports she had received as "not all the players were interviewed".

"He said I must seek assistance from the high court and if the court looks at the contract and says it is invalid and sets it aside, and a new process is opened, I will be very comfortable because that puts all speculation to rest."

A court date has yet to be set but Mahlangu-Nkabinde said she had "started engaging my legal unit" and papers will be filed "in due course".

She said she was going to announce her court action later this week but decided to do so yesterday after the Sunday Times report made it "urgent" for her to do so.

Cele's spokesperson Major General Nonkululeko Mbatha said yesterday she "knew nothing" about Mahlangu-Nkabinde's decision to take the contract with Shabangu to court to have it declared invalid.

Calls to Shabangu went unanswered and Public Protector spokesperson Galalelo Masibi could not comment. - Additional reporting by Retha Grobbelaar