{"id":14229,"date":"2021-06-03T03:35:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T03:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/?post_type=stories&p=14229"},"modified":"2024-09-19T12:29:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T12:29:22","slug":"210603-powerships-officials-confirm-they-met-bidder-ministers-associates-at-kream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/210603-powerships-officials-confirm-they-met-bidder-ministers-associates-at-kream\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerships: Officials confirm they met rival bidder, \u2018minister\u2019s associates\u2019 at Kream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, DNG Energy chief executive Aldworth Mbalati made explosive allegations of corruption when he filed an application in the Pretoria high court to interdict the government\u2019s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMI4P).<\/p>\n

Mbalati told the court that he was the victim of an attempted shakedown by senior officials from the department of mineral resources and energy; a businessman associated with their minister, Gwede Mantashe; and a member of the minister\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

Mantashe announced the RMI4P preferred bidders in March, with the lion\u2019s share of 2\u00a0000MW on offer going to the Turkish-led Karpowership SA consortium, which offers a ship-based gas turbine solution. Mbalati\u2019s DNG, which offered onshore gas turbines, was disqualified.<\/p>\n

Minister bashed rumour mongers<\/h4>\n

During the announcement of the preferred bidders, Mantashe decried \u201crumour mongering\u201d about politically-connecting people being cut into the RMI4P.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me give a rumour that was flighted around by lobbyists. In one of the bidders, among the directors there was a person called Thabo Mokoena.<\/p>\n

And they said, \u2018There you are, the director general of the department is there!\u2019 \u201cAnd we said, \u2018Go and check carefully,\u2019 and they discovered that it\u2019s some different Thabo Mokoena with another name, not the director general of the department.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Karpowership\u2019s shareholders is Thabo George Mokoena, an advisor to the former minister of state security.<\/p>\n

Mantashe continued: \u201cOne lobbyist said, \u2018In one of these, the son of the minister is involved.\u2019 We said, \u2018Go and investigate and find out. Because you\u2019ll not find a son of a minister in any of these bidders.\u2019\u201d[\/sidebarContentStory]<\/p>\n

Now, the officials Mbalati implicated have come forward. Director-general Thabo Mokoena and deputy director-general Tseliso Maqubela filed affidavits in court last week, confirming that they met with Mbalati and the two men \u2013 whom they identify as controversial lawyer Luvo Makasi and Vuyani Gaga, a business partner of Mantashe\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

They also confirm the meeting took place at Kream, an upmarket restaurant in Pretoria.<\/p>\n

But their recollection of events is very different from Mbalati\u2019s version.<\/p>\n

Countering Mbalati\u2019s claim that he was pressured to enter a corrupt scheme or be cut from the multibillion-rand tender, Mokoena tells the court that he and his colleague reassured Mbalati that the tender would be clean.<\/p>\n

In his affidavit, Mbalati recounted being told, \u201c[O]ne thing you must understand is that there is a system in this country and if you don’t work in accordance with that system you will fail, even if your Project is the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mokoena, on the other hand, tells the court: \u201cAlthough I cannot recall the precise words that he used, Mr Maqubela simply made the point that if a bidder does not comply with the tender requirements, its bid will fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Powerships: Losing bidder claims \u2018blatant corruption\u2019, fingers Mantashe \u2018associate\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One point that both sides agree on is that the meeting was brokered by Makasi, a lawyer who briefly chaired the Central Energy Fund and was accused of being a gatekeeper for the water and sanitation department under Nomvula Mokonyane.<\/p>\n

Mbalati had cryptically described Makasi in his affidavit as \u201ca businessman associated with the Minister\u201d, although Makasi denies there is any association.<\/p>\n

And while Mbalati had only described the other person present at the meeting as a \u201cfamilial relation of the Minister\u201d, Mokoena identifies him as Gaga \u2013 although neither he nor anyone else explained Gaga\u2019s role at the meeting.<\/p>\n

The director general emphasises this meeting was his only interaction with Mbalati. Similarly, he states, \u201cI also had no other interactions with either Mr Makasi or Mr Gaga in relation to the RMI4P in the period to which the allegations\u2026 relate (i.e. from 26 July 2020 to 18 March 2021).\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cassociates\u201d<\/h5>\n

Both men have controversial track records.<\/p>\n

Makasi was dubbed \u201cMokonyane\u2019s \u2018Ben 10\u2019\u201d in a City Press investigation<\/a> that identified him as an inexplicably powerful advisor in the water department with influence over multimillion-rand contracts.<\/p>\n

Makasi called the nickname defamatory<\/a> and insisted that he played no role beyond being a legal advisor to the department. In a written response to amaBhungane, he blamed the allegations on unhappiness over a damning forensic report his firm had produced.<\/p>\n

However, controversy followed him to the Central Energy Fund (CEF): in March 2019, he left after \u201cserious allegations<\/a>\u201d emerged that Makasi had tried to solicit a $2.5-million bribe from one of the companies that bought South Africa\u2019s strategic fuel reserves.<\/p>\n

The Sunday Times reported<\/a> that Makasi had allegedly said the money would go to senior officials in the ANC and in government.<\/p>\n

Makasi denied this allegation too. He told amaBhungane that he believed his decision to report corruption involving the Strategic Fuel Fund is what led to \u201cnumerous anonymous whistle blower reports\u201d against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations \u2026 then led to me being summoned to a meeting in Pretoria by the Minister of Energy regarding the various allegations including soliciting of bribes, to which I responded in full.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, Jeff Radebe, the then minister, decided he should go.<\/p>\n

When Mantashe took over as energy minister, he took the trouble to correct Radebe\u2019s previous statement, insisting that Makasi had stepped down<\/a> rather than being removed. This is the only obvious connection between Mantashe and Makasi, despite the DNG boss describing them as associates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not have a relationship with Mr Mantashe. Mr Mantashe … only responded to the letter which I had sent to the Department before he became the Minister. I do not have any further communication or relationship as an \u2018associate\u2019 of the Minister to qualify or explain,\u201d Makasi told amaBhungane.<\/p>\n

Gaga, on the other hand, had a more direct connection with Mantashe: he and Nolwandle Mantashe, the minister\u2019s wife, co-owned a business called Siphamba Consulting.<\/p>\n

In 2014, another Gaga company, Siyenza, was irregularly awarded a R631-million contract to build pit toilets in the Amatole district of the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n

Siyenza then subcontracted the \u201csocial facilitation work\u201d to Siphamba. The minister\u2019s son, Buyambo Mantashe, also worked for the company.<\/p>\n

In November 2019, Gaga was one of 11 accused arrested and charged<\/a> with tender fraud, money laundering and corruption. Nolwandle Mantashe was not charged but the NPA obtained a preservation order, preventing the Mantashes from selling their Boksburg house until the case had been finalised and allegedly stolen money recouped.<\/p>\n

The NPA confirmed yesterday that the case against Gaga and his co-accused will go ahead in September; they have not yet been asked to plead to the charges against them.<\/p>\n

More recently the Sunday Times reported that<\/a> Gaga claimed to be Mantashe\u2019s nephew in an apparent bid to secure a stake in a mining company.<\/p>\n

Mantashe strenuously denies that there is any family connection: \u201cI am not related to him… I happen to know the family of the mother of Vuyani [Gaga]… He is not related to any of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his own affidavit replying to Mbalati\u2019s court application, however, Mantashe left it up to his director-general to confirm the details. \u201cAs far as I am aware, and as … the Minister … subsequently confirmed to me, neither Mr Makasi nor Mr Gaga are business associates of the Minister nor do they have \u2018close ties\u2019 to the Minister… The meeting was not attended by a \u2018familial relation of the Minister,\u2019\u201d Mokoena states.<\/p>\n

Gaga did not respond to detailed questions sent to him.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Mbalati\u2019s affidavit effectively accused Nolwandle Mantashe of working with his rivals, Karpowership, to secure a deadline extension for the RMI4P bid.<\/p>\n

As evidence, Mbalati attached what he claimed was a forwarded message from a member of Karpowership\u2019s consortium: \u201cWe’ve got some intel from the main principal’ wife that our requested extension has been under consideration & they my may afford bidders a 3week delay in submission & it should be announced imminently.\u201c<\/p>\n

Nolwandle Mantashe told amaBhungane that she \u201cwas never approached by anyone about extension of a bid\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not engage my husband because no one approached me. Even if it had happened imagine talking about things happening in his office and me telling him what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karpowership business development director Mehmet Katmer did not directly deal with the message in his affidavit but denied that Karpowership had asked anyone for a deadline extension.<\/p>\n

Read Karpowership slams rival bidder in corruption case<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A tale of two meetings<\/h5>\n

This extension \u2013 which was granted at the 11th hour on 30 October 2020 \u2013 is central to what the two sides allege happened at the meeting at Kream.<\/p>\n

Mbalati remembers the meeting taking place on Monday 2 November, after the deadline extension had been granted. The officials say that the meeting was on Friday 30 October, hours before the deadline extension was officially granted:<\/p>\n

\"Kream<\/a><\/p>\n

One point that they both agree on is that the meeting was instigated by Makasi, although what Makasi aimed to achieve is in dispute:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Makasi provided a third version of events. He told us that Mbalati approached him and that they had explored a partnership. He confirmed that the DNG boss told him that he was the victim of a shakedown but denied he, Makasi, was involved in the shakedown:<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Mbalati advised me … that he was being coerced by some business people \u2018who claimed\u2019 or purported to represent the Minister in his dealings and without their co-operation they will dictate there [sic] timelines of \u2026 the [RMI4P] and it was thus important for him to commit a minimum of 35% of the contract value to the companies recommended to him, as they had the authority to amend\/change the timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makasi made out that the meeting between DNG and the officials was not pre-arranged: \u201cThe meeting was between me and DNG with my other associate and the officials referred to only arrived as we were concluding our meeting. I took the opportunity to introduce, Mr Mbalati to these officials and in passing advised them that we had challenges with … relations with the Department and the current process underway with the emergency procurement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was then suggested that we can join them at their venue, for a few minutes, as their commitment had not arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is where the deadline extension comes in, but again, Mbalati and the DG have very different versions of the same conversation:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Makasi provided a slightly different take on the officials\u2019 version: \u201cMr Mbalati expressed his view that he would not be happy with any extension, as he had information of companies that were lobbying for such extension in order to get their compliance in order and that would amount to unfair advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this, the official responded that he should place his request to the [department\u2019s Independent Power Producer Office, which managed the tender], as they were the appropriate authority to deal with it. However, he refused to provide the identity of the entity or any further details, in relation to the allegations he levelled at the meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the meeting came to a close, Mbalati remembers being threatened (by Maqubela) if he did not play ball. Mokoena does not recall exactly what Maqubela said, but put a more friendly spin on his deputy\u2019s words:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Makasi told us that Mbalati \u201cexpressed his satisfaction with the professionalism and conduct of the officials\u201d.<\/p>\n

DNG\u2019s application will be heard in July.<\/p>\n

For more amaB stories from our ongoing investigation into the RMI4P multibillion-rand tender, read:<\/em><\/p>\n