Africa-Press – South-Africa. An ongoing court case involving a former employee of Voltex, a subsidiary of the Bidvest group, opened a can of worms that put ANC national chairperson and Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, back in the spotlight.
According to court papers, the former employee claimed that he was fired for red-flagging several payments that were made to Ntlokholo, a company where Caswell Mokoena is a director.
Mokoena is also the chief operating officer at the Gwede Mantashe Foundation, whose patron is the minister.
Of the money that Voltex paid to Ntlokholo for services rendered, R935 000 allegedly went to the foundation and as part of his work as an auditor, the ex-employee had to flag a potential money-laundering transaction.
With the matter in court, the official opposition, the DA, piled pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Mantashe, arguing that there was evidence that he is compromised.
The spokesperson on mineral resources and energy, Kevin Mileham, argued that it was worrisome that Bidvest once formed a partnership with a company where Mantashe’s wife, Nolwandle Mantashe, was a director and they scored a huge Eskom tender.
“Further muddying the waters is the fact that another Bidvest subsidiary, Royal Mnandi Duduza, was the beneficiary of a catering contract in excess of R600 million to feed workers constructing the Medupi and Kusile power stations. Mantashe’s wife, Nolwandle Mantashe, was a director of Royal Mnandi. Minister Mantashe’s own involvement with these power stations is equally questionable.
“He was secretary-general of the ANC during the Chancellor House/Hitachi scandal – wherein the ANC’s investment arm, Chancellor House, held a 25% stake in Hitachi, a company that was awarded the (contract) to provide the boilers for the two beleaguered power stations, now long overdue and billions over budget,” Mileham said.
Mileham further argued that what was worrisome was that Ntlokholo was paid for offering services in a sector it does not operate in and that was potentially a corrupt deal, covered with legitimate invoices.
However, Mantashe told Independent Media that the DA’s calls were based on inaccurate information supplied by the media. He argued that many citizens serve on boards of different companies and if their behaviour was being questioned in one company, it does not mean all the companies they are associated with should be implicated.
In the case of Mokoena, Mantashe argued that his foundation should not be called into question merely because he worked for his foundation.
He said claims that the amount of money that went to his foundation were far fetched as it does not own a bank account. However, the questions remain how it was able to register as a legal entity without a bank account and how it pays its workers or volunteers.
“There is no money that went to the foundation. No. The foundation does not have a bank account, it does not operate in that way. Sponsorships go directly to beneficiaries. If we work with a municipality to organise a soccer tournament, the donation goes to them. The foundation does not have a bank account to receive money,” Mantashe said.
But in a sudden twist on Tuesday, the foundation announced that it had reached a decision to fire Mokoena and give him an opportunity to focus on clearing his name before the courts.
“The foundation together with Mr Mokoena have concluded that Mr Mokoena be relieved of his duties, so as to allow him to deal with this matter,” the foundation said.
The question remains, is this end of the saga which has raised questions about politicians and their foundations?
Only time will tell.
Political Bureau
