This, after Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo postponed his hearing - which was scheduled for Wednesday - to a date yet to be determined.

Mokhesi's new legal team made submissions to the commission requesting for a period of roughly two weeks to prepare for his appearance, on grounds that they had not entirely familiarised themselves with the background of the investigations following the withdrawal from the case of his Bloemfontein-based state attorney.

Whilst it has been indicated that Mokhesi is more than willing to co-operate and testify before the commission, evidence leader Adv Paul Pretorious SC told Zondo that Mokhesi is an important witness who is implicated in the case as an Accounting Officer in respect of the project, and that it is imperative that he takes to the stand as soon as possible.

OFM News earlier reported that the R255 million project raised eyebrows on Tuesday when asbestos expert, Jacobus Roets, testified that the cost of the project was "exorbitantly high".

During his testimony, he told the commission the report prepared by Blackhead Consulting and Diamond Hill Trading joint-venture for the assessment, audit and eradication of asbestos roofs in the province was ineffective. He said the companies failed to give a clear indication of how much asbestos there was per house or unit nor the extent of the risk it posed to the occupants of the houses.

Roets told the commission the report dated 2 February 2015 was "not of much use for such a big project", as it lacked basic details such as how many houses were involved, how long the project was going to take, nor the equipment that was going to be used for the assessment and removal of the asbestos material.

He said anyone who authorised the project should have seen that.

The project made national headlines in May when Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, released an investigative report which found the department guilty of improper conduct involving this asbestos housing contract awarded to the two Gauteng-based companies.

Mkhwebane in her report outlined that the provincial department participated in an expired contract of the Gauteng Human Settlements Department, and failed to conduct a due diligence investigation before participating in this contract. She said the province was in possession of the Gauteng Department's Service Legal Agreement, which had expired, and went ahead to pay the service provider an amount of R139 million despite the Auditor-General having declared the procurement as irregular as early as July 31 in 2015.

She said their findings also indicated that the service provider had subcontracted the contract at a fee of just over R21 million, while the service provider walked away with R230 million.

In addition to Mkhwebane's findings, Roets who has over two decades of experience in the field, told Zondo during his testimony that his estimates are that the project would have cost approximately R20 to R30 million.

"Although a reassessment will need to be made, the cost is definitely less than R255 million," he said.

OFM News