Africa-Press – South-Africa. After three years of inaction by the Hawks, lobby group AfriForum has given the investigative unit the end of May to give an update on its investigations into ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s family holiday to Dubai.
Should the Hawks fail to update AfriForum on whether an investigation has been carried out or not, the lobby group will institute court action for failing to do so.
AfriForum spokesperson Barry Bateman communicated this on Wednesday.
Bateman, through a media statement, said: “AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit has given Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, the head of the Hawks, until 30 May to provide meaningful feedback on the status of the corruption investigation into Fikile Mbalula, the ANC’s secretary-general.”
This after AfriForum head of campaigns Monique Taute, who opened a case in 2019, allegedly failed to get updates from the Hawks.
Bateman said despite attempts by Taute to get answers from the Hawks, the case had been passed around between the police and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The case stems from a 2018 Public Protector’s report into the Mbalula family holiday to Dubai.
The report found Sedgars Sport, a company that supplies sports uniforms for South Africa’s Olympic athletes and officials, had partially paid for Mbalula’s trip to Dubai between December 2016 and January 2017 while he was sports minister.
While the entire trip is said to have cost R680 000, Sedgars is believed to have paid roughly half of that amount.
The report claimed two payments had been made from a bank account linked to Reimon Uniform, with the first alleged payment being for R200 000 and another payment of R100 000 was allegedly made to Johannesburg-based travel agency Munlin Travel.
At the time, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the Public Protector, slammed Mbalula, saying it was “very irresponsible of him as he could not determine whether he could afford the excursion”.
She added it had been inappropriate for Mbalula to enter into a “loan agreement” with Yusuf Dockrat, “a director of an entity doing business with SASCOC”.
According to Bateman, despite Mkhwebane referring the case to the NPA to “investigate whether the funds used to pay for the trip were not the proceeds of money laundering”, all indications were the NPA simply ignored this instruction.
He added the allegations against Mbalula were simple and uncomplicated and should not have taken several law enforcement organisations this much time to conclude.
“They [the allegations] entail that the Dockrat family, through linked companies, allegedly paid for the politician’s holiday – a single transaction with a travel agent without any complicated forensic analysis of financial records and bank statements required,” said Bateman.
He added numerous attempts had been made to try and solicit a response from Lebeya, including a letter written to him dated 4 May by AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit head, advocate Gerrie Nel.
In the letter, Nel wrote: “Based on our experience in this and other matters, we respectfully submit that the country’s woes with combatting corruption will remain a pipe dream for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation [DPCI].
“The disastrous investigation and prosecution of the Nulane Investment matter is a striking example of the continued ineptness of the DPCI.
“Either the ineptness or political sheltering of certain individuals appears to persist and can more adequately be equated to the famous quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm: ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.
“You are implored to heed the request to respond. Acting on behalf of the complainant, we reiterate our discontent with the lack of progress and failure to provide meaningful feedback.
“More importantly, we submit that your failure to present the National Prosecuting Authority with a completed case docket for them to decide on a prosecution lends credence to our client’s concerns of bias.”
Bateman said should Lebeya fail to respond by 30 May, the Private Prosecution Unit would be left with no option but to approach the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria and seek remedy.
“The recent letter and previous correspondence may form the basis of the application,” he added.
News24 was unable to get comment from Mbalula despite numerous attempts, and should he respond his comments will be added.
Despite not responding according to AfriForum, Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo told News24 on Wednesday that “we can confirm that investigation into the matter referred to by AfriForum has been finalised and referred to the director public prosecutions for a decision.”
National Prosecution Authority spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga had by the time of publishing not responded to questions.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
