This, after the Zondo Commission on Tuesday heard that he took his church choir to India instead of taking the more than 80 beneficiaries of the Vrede Dairy Project for training.

Zwane has been at the centre of the controversial project since its inception in 2012. It’s alleged that he signed off on the R220 million paid by the provincial Agriculture Department to the Gupta-linked company Estina to run the project. It is, however, reported that only 1% was spent on actual farming. 

One of the intended beneficiaries, Ephraim Dhlamini, has today during his testimony told the commission that it is a known fact that in Vrede one cannot speak about Zwane nor the Vrede dairy debacle and sleep in their house. He said doing so would mean you will be killed. Dhlamini further told the commission about several death threats he has received over this project, and how he had to get himself a gun because he had lost hope in law enforcement agencies. He said he has met with the office of the Hawks, the Public Protector and other law office bearers but his calls seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

OFM News