{"id":32512,"date":"2025-01-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/?p=30553"},"modified":"2025-02-10T08:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T08:12:11","slug":"inside-job-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-woman-who-brought-down-speaker-nosiviwe-mapisa-nqakula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/inside-job-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-woman-who-brought-down-speaker-nosiviwe-mapisa-nqakula\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside job: the rise and fall of the woman who brought down Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Be sure to also read part two<\/a> of this story, as well as our in-depth analysis<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the early 2000s, <\/a>No<\/a>mbasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlo<\/a>vu led an ordinary life. An SAA flight attendant who had studied to be a nurse, she was involved in nothing that would draw public attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she eventually rose to become chair of African Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries Association (AMD) before resigning in January 2024 \u201cto attend to personal legal issues\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former colleague at the national carrier finds it hard to reconcile the \u201cplain\u201d air hostess with the high-flying businesswoman she has become, as well as the fact that she is a key witness against former defence minister and speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. \u201cShe never \u2026 made any waves, and definitely not like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mapisa-Nqakula is set to return on Monday to the Pretoria high court, where she faces 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering. She was arrested last April and has yet to plead, though she maintains her innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charges stem from explosive affidavits Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu made to the NPA\u2019s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) in 2023 and early 2024. Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu alleged that she paid the then defence minister a total of R2.15-million while profiting from large military logistics contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IDAC offered Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu indemnity for her part in Mapisa-Nqakula\u2019s alleged corruption in exchange for her testimony. Under section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act, the trial court will confirm the indemnity only if she testifies \u201cfrankly and honestly\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a second story tomorrow, we will examine whether offering Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu indemnity was a wise decision, given what we reveal below to have been her alleged involvement in a much broader corruption scheme drawing in some of the military establishment\u2019s most senior members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compounding the indemnity decision is the way separate fraud-and-corruption charges brought against Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu in 2020 by another NPA unit, the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU), were thrown out of court two days before Nosiviwe-Nqakula\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SCCU charges against Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu also related to military logistics contracts, but did not include her payments to the minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu said that as a state witness she could not discuss the matter and that it was sub judice<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The glitz and the glam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu appears to love the finer things in life, if her and her siblings\u2019 social media posts are anything to go by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One Facebook post shows her and her husband, SANDF deputy surgeon general Maj-Gen Noel Ndhlovu, holidaying in New York. Others show them in an exotic location riding a camel and posing with cobras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2013 post records Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s \u201c1st<\/sup> kill!!\u201d on a hunt: a wildebeest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another post five years later speaks of a 50-hectare Mpumalanga farm stocked with \u201cBrahman, Boran, Hereford & Simbra. Also Limousine & Bonsmara!\u201d The farm is owned by the Vanana Trust, named after Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s late father. She, her husband and her brother, Sabelo Ntsondwa, have been listed as its trustees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trust also owns a property in KwaDwesi, Gqeberha, and earlier owned an agricultural holding north of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu declared in bail proceedings four years ago that she owned three Eastern Cape properties and two Gauteng properties worth about R25-million in total. In 2013, she tagged herself in a photograph of a BMW X5 and BMW M6 coup\u00e9 parked outside her garage, saying, \u201cMy home is running out of space, lol!\u201d In the bail proceedings she declared owning a Maserati Ghibli and a Range Rover Sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s three younger siblings also flaunt her luxurious lifestyle on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her younger sister, Andiswa Joyi, bragged in 2021 about how she, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and their brother were \u201ctravelling in a private jet with the family, going home to Mtata\u201d. The aircraft was a turboprop Pilatus PC-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu hails from the Eastern Cape, where she attended school in Gqeberha\u2019s KwaMagxaki township. The Ntsondwa siblings \u2013 Nombasa, brother Sabelo, younger sister Andiswa and elder sister Siphokazi Sowazi \u2013 were cared for by their aunt and uncle after their parents and baby sister died in a 1988 car accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siphokazi, according to her LinkedIn profile, is a media specialist formerly employed as the ANC\u2019s \u201chead: business development\u201d. Sabelo has worked with both sisters: Siphokazi in relation to the ANC and Nombasa in defence contracting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siphokazi and Sabelo were involved in ANC fundraising shindigs, including presidential gala evenings and business forum summits through their company New Media Inc, his Facebook posts show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From strength to strength<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s path to success was not without twists and turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After school she enrolled at Gqeberha\u2019s Charlotte Searle nursing college. She left before completing the course. Later, she joined SAA as a flight attendant before being promoted to the ground-based job of cabin crew relations manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s rise through SAA\u2019s ranks came to a halt in 2007 after she and other women laid sexual harassment complaints against senior managers at the airline. City Press reported<\/a> her saying at the time: \u201cI know I am not an exec, but this does not mean men must just impose themselves and refuse to stop when told.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu left SAA after this. Consumer data suggests she did a stint with Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company registration data shows that she registered two businesses, TM IT Consulting and Sinopi Event and PR Management, in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Her partner in TM IT was Lindiwe Mamashela, whom company registration records show became a director of the Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Foundation in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Sinopi Event and PR, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu rubbed shoulders with people of influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2010, she posted pictures on Facebook of her and Deputy President Paul Mashatile, then Gauteng ANC chair, at one of what she said were \u201ca number of events done by Sinopi\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another photo she posted in December of that year shows her at a Sinopi-hosted launch in Kimberly for a book by Phathekile Holomisa, the long-serving president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders (Contralesa) and later deputy minister of correctional services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SANDF\u2019s logistical woes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s initial foray into the defence environment came in January 2011, according to her 2023 affidavit against Mapisa-Nqakula for IDAC. She worked as a consultant for a Johannesburg-based logistics company, Consortium Shipping, when it transported equipment for the SANDF between SA and Burundi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 31, 2012, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu registered her own military logistics company, Umkhombe Marine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coincidentally, then-president Jacob Zuma appointed Mapisa-Nqakula as minister of defence in a cabinet reshuffle two weeks after Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu registered Umkhombe. There is no evidence that the two women were acquainted then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government was increasingly deploying the SANDF to peacekeeping missions on the continent. However, the military faced a severe logistics crisis fuelled by mismanagement and chronic underfunding, creating a gap for private contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company registration records list Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu as Umkhombe\u2019s sole director, though she would in time employ her siblings Sabelo and Andiswa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe seems to have relied on subcontracting other businesses, including state-owned-companies, to transport equipment the SANDF hired it to transport. But what it lacked in assets, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu seems to have made up for in networking and connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu also became a 30 percent shareholder in a local offshoot of the controversial UK-Zimbabwe aviation group Avient. The local company wanted to tender for SANDF work and needed a black economic empowerment partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe found Nombasa,\u201d said former Avient director Lewis Kling, \u201cand she became a very good option for us to bring on board for all the reasons relating to BEE \u2013 the fact that she was apparently well connected into the defence force and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kling added: \u201cThe irony is that, having brought Nombasa on board, we had to then bid for the next tender, and we got disqualified on a technicality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kling said Avient and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu parted ways after this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe\u2019s website<\/a>, which is littered with spelling and grammatical errors, however continues to list it as a shareholder in Avient and still claims that Avient \u201cdoes all our airfreight movement,\u201d mainly for the SANDF, with Soviet-era Il-76 and An-124 transport aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avient Air, another company in the group, was flagged in a United Nations Security Council report<\/a> a decade earlier for its alleged involvement with international arms trafficker Leonid Minim during the DRC civil war. The report also alleged that Avient was contracted to organise bombing raids and worked with the Zimbabwean military during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tenders after tea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe, according to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s 2023 IDAC affidavit, won its first SANDF tender, valued at R1.5-million, in 2013. It was for \u201cdry goods\u201d \u2013 coffee and tea apparently. That was just enough to whet Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s appetite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe landed a series of large logistics contracts in the years to follow. They were for the transportation of equipment to and from SANDF contingents deployed on peacekeeping missions in the DRC and Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defence department issued the first and smallest of the three logistics tenders in November 2014. The SANDF needed vehicles transported to the DRC and redundant equipment returned to SA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was a closed bid restricted to seven preselected companies according to the SCCU charge sheet against Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu. Umkhombe was among them. Also included, the charge sheet states, was a transport company that owned a single taxi, a stationery distributor and AB Logistics, a division of state-owned Armscor. AB Logistics failed to submit a bid given that the deadline was less than a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charge sheet claims that in fact only Umkhombe submitted a bid. \u201cUmkhombe had an advantage over its competitors as it \u2026 was provided, before the time, with information about the bid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of their bid, the charge sheet also alleges, Umkhombe and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu submitted fake empowerment, marine insurance and financial credibility certificates. None of this mattered and Umkhombe won the contract. It was paid R34.66-million, having bid R24.76-million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SANDF spokesperson Col Selinah Rawlins declined to comment on contracts awarded to the company, saying the matter was sub judice<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military documents, records from the court cases against Mapisa-Nqakula and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and leaked correspondence between Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and her then attorney, Eric Bryer, provide details of subsequent SANDF logistics contracts awarded to Umkhombe and how they doubled and trebled in value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryer acted for Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and Umkhombe between 2016 and 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sudan tender<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After another closed tender \u2013 restricted to 10 invitees and again including the single-taxi company and the stationery distributor \u2013 Umkhombe landed a R104-million contract to transport equipment to SANDF troops deployed on a hybrid African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter of award was dated February 11, 2016. The next day Lt-Gen Duma Mdutyana, who had just been appointed chief of joint operations, instructed in writing that the contract be put on hold \u201cdue to unforeseen circumstances,\u201d which turned out to be a decision from Zuma as commander-in-chief to withdraw the SANDF from Darfur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Mdutyana\u2019s \u201chold\u201d instruction was dated February 12, the onward notification to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu was dated three days later, February 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, through attorney Bryer, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu was demanding R30-million-plus from the SANDF for expenses allegedly committed to in the interim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expenses, she claimed, were for engaging local aviation company Soviet Air Charter and Dubai-based Aztec Shipping to place aircraft and vehicles on standby to transport the equipment to Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SCCU charge sheet against Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu includes a fraud count alleging that she in fact \u201chad not incurred\u201d the expenses. It is understood that the investigation uncovered evidence suggesting at least one of the invoices \u2013 Aztec\u2019s for US$1.9-million \u2013 was fake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threat of legal action managed to secure Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu a meeting with the SANDF\u2019s then logistics chief, Lt-Gen Morris Moadira, at his office in Tshwane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also called Mapisa-Nqakula \u2013 their first documented contact \u2013 having been put in touch by a connected businessperson. \u201cAfter having explained my concerns and frustrations to the minister, she undertook to look into the matter and revert,\u201d Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu states in her 2023 IDAC affidavit. \u201cShe unfortunately never reverted to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be that as it may \u2013 and whether this was before or after the call to the minister is not clear \u2013 logistics chief Moadira instructed in early May 2016 that \u201call future cargo transportation for the external mission areas must be solely awarded to Umkhombe Marine until the demanded amount is exhausted\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was likely an illegal instruction and it was unclear whether Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu could simply add an extra R30-million to her next bill, which is exactly what she tried to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moadira recorded at the time that he had made his ruling after being instructed by the two most senior defence officials, then defence secretary Dr Sam Gulube and then SANDF chief Gen Solly Shoke, \u201cto avoid unnecessary legal battle\u201d and \u201cthat an amicable solution must be devised\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Moadira declined to respond to amaBhungane in detail, saying he had provided the military police with the information in 2023, \u201cso you can contact that sergeant major of the military police and he will give you those answers. They said whoever comes to me about this I must send to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked why he met Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and if it was on Shoke and Gulube\u2019s instruction, he said: \u201cThese were the questions that I answered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said the tender had come from the joint operations division. \u201cI didn\u2019t know the company. I didn\u2019t know anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S<\/a><\/a>hoke declined to comment, saying that he felt \u201cinsulted to be associated with wrongdoing\u201d and that he would not \u201ctalk about matters that are before the courts involving other people \u2013 that is unethical of me to talk about that\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The replacement tender<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per Moadira\u2019s instruction, ten days later the defence department\u2019s Central Procurement Service Centre (CPSC) asked Umkhombe to submit a bid for transporting equipment between SA and the DRC. Umkhombe was the only company invited to bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe quoted R109-million, which included R30-million to defray the expenses Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu claimed to have incurred on the lapsed Sudan contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was approved all the way up, from the officer commanding the CPSC to the brigadier in charge of procurement management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the bid hit a roadblock at a higher body, the Departmental Commercial Procurement Board (DCPB), which must approve high-value tenders. Classified DCPB minutes, which made their way to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and her attorney Bryer, show that members initially turned down the award to Umkhombe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DCPB recorded in June 2016 that \u201cit is not clear why the company must be awarded\u201d a R109-million contract for a R30-million loss, for which in any case \u201cno proof \u2026 has been submitted\u201d. It also held that \u201cthe entire motivation is anchored on the premise that the award to the said company on a single source basis will avert the legal case and litigation process. This is a flawed argument since there is currently no pending litigation\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had others in her corner. In a subsequent email to Bryer concerning possible litigation against the defence department after all, she remarked: \u201cI just spoke to the silent partner, he says it is very necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One candidate for the \u201csilent partner\u201d must be Gulube, the defence secretary. Two days after that email a company named Nolutabo registered a business partnership with Umkhombe on government\u2019s central supplier database. Nolutabo\u2019s sole director was Gulube\u2019s wife, Lillian More-Gulube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In her 2023 IDAC affidavit, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu acknowledged a relationship with Gulube. \u201cI knew him through his wife Lillian Gulube. My husband and I used to visit the Gulubes\u2019 home and vice versa. We spent the 2015 December holidays together in Mauritius.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had holidayed with the defence department\u2019s top official, the man who presided over the military procurement system, shortly before being awarded the Sudan tender and being given the exclusive opportunity to bid for the replacement DRC tender. Additionally, at least in the later stages when Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu awaited the outcome of the replacement tender, her partner was Gulube\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu cast herself as a victim. An anonymous \u201cwhistleblower\u201d statement a lawyer submitted to parliament on her behalf in 2021, well after her arrest, claimed that \u201cDr Gulube coerced our client to work with his wife. Our client was uncomfortable with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgain, she did not have a choice and feared the consequences of defying Dr Gulube. Our client paid Dr Gulube’s wife R200 000.00 for some services rendered. However, our client felt that she was overcharged and was unhappy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Gulubes died, reportedly of Covid-19, in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early August 2016, the DCPB relented and approved the DRC replacement award to Umkhombe. The perplexing rationale, minutes show, was that the Sudan contract had not been cancelled procedurally and that \u201ccancellations can have negative financial implications to either the supplier or the DoD.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award came with conditions though: Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had to confirm in writing that she would drop her R30-million claim. This tender award would be for R79-million only, not R109-million, and there would be no further replacement tenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two former DCPB members have claimed that the decision was made without a legal opinion that the DCPB had earlier insisted on, with one saying that the chair appeared \u201cuncomfortable about what had happened\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu accepted the conditions. She emailed Bryer with the news of the contract award, copying Maj-Gen Noel Ndhlovu, the SANDF\u2019s deputy surgeon general. They were married three days later. The General and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had been dating since February 2015 according to information contained in Bryer\u2019s files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ka-ching ka-ching<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe was paid its R79-million in six tranches, starting with R15-million in mid-October 2016, according to the SCCU charge sheet against Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fortnight later R150 000, the first of seven tranches totalling R1.35-million, left Umkhombe\u2019s account, the charge sheet and a military police memorandum allege. The money went to a seemingly innocuous company named Perfume de Lux, though it might have seemed out of place in a military setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perfume de Lux\u2019s sole director was Busisiwe, wife of Lt-Gen Derrick Mgwebi. And therein lay the catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mgwebi had been chief of joint operations \u2013 the SANDF division responsible for peacekeeping deployments \u2013 when Umkhombe won its first DRC tender and when the Sudan tender was initiated. Joint operations set the tender specifications and controlled the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the Sudan tender was awarded to Umkhombe only to be put on hold, Mgwebi had moved to a new command: of the entire UN force in the DRC, the very mission whose SA component was served by Umkhombe\u2019s replacement tender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe\u2019s Perfume de Lux payments earned Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu a corruption count in the SCCU charges against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mgwebi denied to amaBhungane that he had been bribed. He said that \u201cno one has ever asked me [about it] from the side of the authorities\u201d and that he had not been in a position to influence awards to Umkhombe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnderstand the government has supply chain management. Where do I fit in supply chain management? Because the approval and the process of procuring \u2026 is done in the logistical department which is separate from where I am seated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even within his joint operations division, he said, \u201cthe person who does all that requests and process to [the] logistics [division] is a person at a major-general level sitting at level three. It doesn\u2019t come to level two where I was seated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mgwebi would not comment on the alleged payments to Perfume de Lux. \u201cIt would be unbecoming for me to talk on behalf of an independent person or business entity. I’m not even a shareholder in the company you’re referring to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be that as it may, some of Umkhombe\u2019s R79-million allegedly peeled off in another direction too. The first SANDF tranche hit Umkhombe\u2019s account in in mid-October 2016. Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu states in her 2023 IDAC affidavit that defence secretary Gulube asked to see her not long after, in November or early December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn arrival at his home in Irene, in Pretoria, he asked to speak to me in private in the lounge. In the meeting, he informed me that he had been sent by the minister to request a sum of R300 000.00 from me\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA few days later on or about the second week of December 2016, I delivered the requested cash to Dr Gulube’s home and he was in a hurry to leave when I arrived. He stated that he was going to attend a meeting with the then President Zuma at his official residence in Mahlamba Ndlopfu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI gave him the cash which was contained in an FNB money bag and we were in the lounge. There was no one present when I gave him the cash. His wife Lillian was present somewhere in the house preparing a drink for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite her friendship with the Gulubes, Ntsondwa-Ndlovu alleges, she did not trust him. \u201cI was not sure if Dr Gulube was using the minister’s name for his benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She turned back to Mgwebi. <\/a>\u201cI asked him to connect me with the minister so that I could verify with her if the requests for cash were indeed originating from her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mgwebi allegedly complied and Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu got an audience with Mapisa-Nqakula at OR Tambo International. \u201cShe said, \u2018You want to know if l am the one who asked for the R300 000.00, yes it’s me, and thank you.\u2019”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, the then-minister\u2019s requests were directly to her, according to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s 2023 IDAC affidavit. She states that she handed Mapisa-Nqakula two further amounts, R200 000 and R150 000, at the latter\u2019s home in Bruma, Johannesburg, during 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These first three alleged payments, along with another seven in subsequent years \u2013 R2.15-million in total \u2013 are at the heart of IDAC\u2019s corruption charges against Mapisa-Nqakula. She is also charged in connection with a further R2.4-million allegedly solicited but not paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mgwebi, who is listed as a prosecution witness against Mapisa-Nqakula, declined to comment on the implication that he had played the role of messenger regarding a bribe request. \u201cAs you would know now the minister is charged. Part of the story and whether it happened or not becomes part of the court proceedings\u2026 I am sure you would understand I don\u2019t want to say things that are sub judice<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searching for evidence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometime after the replacement tender, the military police began investigating exactly how Umkhombe had won its bids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A confidential memorandum signed by then military police chief Mokgadi Maphoto shows that the investigation, which was registered in November 2017, came to focus on, among other things, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s so-called R30-million loss from the Sudan tender, her alleged failure to declare her romantic involvement with the SANDF\u2019s deputy surgeon general, the awarding of the replacement tender and the bribes allegedly paid to Mgwebi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maphoto addressed the memorandum, dated August 2018, to the SANDF\u2019s then logistics and joint operations chiefs and copied it to Shoke, the SANDF chief. He concluded with a plea that Umkhombe \u201cnot be considered or be afforded the opportunity to bid until the finalisation of the investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plea fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Big One<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three months earlier, in May 2018, the defence department had advertised a tender to transport equipment and vehicles between SA and the DRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tender closed in June. The CPSC evaluated it in July, disqualifying 10 out of 11 bidders \u2013 many on technicalities, CPSC minutes show. Only Umkhombe, which had bid a hefty R105-million, was left standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CPSC recommended Umkhombe to the DCPB, the board that must approve high-value tenders, in August. That same month, Mapisa-Nqakula reached out to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu after a nine-month hiatus, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s 2023 IDAC affidavit and the charge sheet against Mapisa-Nqakula allege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a pivotal time in the adjudication of Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu\u2019s most lucrative tender yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu alleges that the then-minister asked for R250 000. \u201cI took \u2026 cash and delivered it to her on 17 August 2018 at Zwartkops where there was an event of the Spouses Forum. I was the programme director of the event. The cash was contained in a gift bag\u2026 I gave her that money as the so-called \u2018padkos\u2019 since she was to leave for Port Elizabeth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During September, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu alleges, she handed Mapisa-Nqakula two more amounts of R150 000 each at her Bruma home and the US dollar-equivalent of another R150 000, which the then-minister wanted for shopping in New York, at a Waterkloof air base event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By November 5 all the approvals had been given and Ntsondwa-Ndlhovu got her R105-million letter of award. Two days later, according to her affidavit, \u201cthe minister sent me a message at 07:59 asking me to organise a \u2018wig\u2019 for her. This was another code word for money which she introduced to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu held out until early February 2019, by which time Umkhombe had received payments comprising a substantial part of its R105-million, before complying. She met Mapisa-Nqakula at OR Tambo where, she alleges, she handed her R300 000. The money was in a bag from wig supplier Sarhap with a \u201cshort bob wig\u201d covering it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu alleges, she made two final payments of R400 000 and R100 000 to Mapisa-Nqakula in April and July 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spreading the spoils<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the 2016 replacement tender though, the spoils of the 2018 tender flowed in more than one direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhombe had invoiced its final R10-million of the R105-million contract in early March 2019. A handwritten note in one of attorney Bryer\u2019s client files indicates that he met Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu on Thursday, March 28. Bryer records an instruction: \u201cOrder 500 for Sat for Thoyandou [sic]\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same afternoon Bryer emailed a contact at FNB: \u201cPlease order for me 500 k for Saturday[.] Making a withdrawal from my trust account\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following day, Friday, a deposit of R600 000 \u2013 reference Umkhombe Marine \u2013 hit Bryer\u2019s legal practitioner\u2019s trust account. And the FNB contact confirmed: \u201c[We] will take out the cash for you tomorrow thanks\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cycle ended with an FNB cash withdrawal slip dated that Saturday, 30 March, for R500 000. It was annotated in Bryer\u2019s hand: \u201cHo ho Thoyandou\u201d and \u201cPhillip\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What had just happened was that R500 000 from Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu had been turned into cash \u2013 laundered \u2013 via Bryer\u2019s legal practitioners\u2019 trust account, which is an account ring-fenced for client funds. The cash seemed destined for someone called Phillip, perhaps in Thohoyandou, Limpopo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same procedure was repeated in May \u2013 a R600 000 deposit referenced Umkhombe and R500 000 cash out \u2013 though this time there was no indication of the recipient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPhillip\u2019s\u201d identity is not hard to discern though. When a third Umkhombe tranche of R600 000 landed in June, Bryer noted a query to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu: \u201cWhat is instruction re above[?] 500 for farming 100 for you[?]\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emails, payment records and a handwritten ledger show that Bryer started drawing down from the R500 000 the following day to make payments on behalf of a farming enterprise, Lugisani Milling Services, based in Thohoyandou, and its owner, Phillip Mavhungu.And therein, once again, lay the catch. Mavhungu \u2013 Brig Gen Mavhungu \u2013 was chief of staff at joint operations headquarters, the SANDF division responsible for peacekeeping deployments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The chief of staff, said defence analyst Helmoed Heitman, controlled the division\u2019s purse strings, making financial recommendations to the division\u2019s commander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The single biggest expense from the R500 000 was R300 000 paid to milling equipment manufacturer ABC Hansen Africa. It was a deposit on a R1.3-million invoice for the supply and installation of a \u201csuper maize mill\u201d. ABC Hansen notified Bryer in May the following year, 2020, that the order was ready and a balance of R1.09-million outstanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryer forwarded the email to Mavhungu, copying Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu at her Umkhombe email address. Bryer\u2019s files do not show who covered the balance. It is understood that the equipment was delivered in June 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mavhungu declined to respond to detailed questions, saying that he had \u201cnever worked or been appointed at procurement\u201d and that Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu \u201cnever paid money into my company\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover-up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryer\u2019s apparent cash laundry for Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu went wider than the examples seemingly connected to Mavhungu. His files contain evidence of further withdrawals from his trust account following Umkhombe deposits in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The largest Umkhombe deposit, R700 000, landed in Bryer\u2019s trust account in March 2019, on the day Umkhombe invoiced its final tranche under the R105-million tender. Bryer withdrew R550 000 in cash the next day, annotating the withdrawal slip \u201c500 N\u201d \u2013 his usual abbreviation for Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu \u2013 and \u201c50 Sister\u201d. Another slip for a R240 000 withdrawal in July that year is annotated \u201cNombasa (H)\u201d. Other withdrawals do not reference apparent recipients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears likely that much of the cash was handed to Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, who may have commingled some of it with the alleged payments to Mapisa-Nqakula. (Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu states in her 2024 IDAC affidavit that the source of the Mapisa-Nqakula payments was cash withdrawals from Umkhombe\u2019s account for operational needs and was generally held in her safe.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the Bryer cash greased other palms is not known. However, some effort went into disguising the purpose of the payments. Bryer\u2019s files contain an email he sent Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu in July 2019 as the cash withdrawals were piling up. He told her he had consulted chartered accountant Meshack Nyepa, who \u201crecommends that we sign two binding contracts\u2026 This way we cover any payments made to me\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryer emailed Ntsondwa the two contracts for signature, ostensibly for his consulting services to Umkhombe and his legal services to her. The contracts were backdated more than three years to 2016, when their association began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyepa vehemently denied to amaBhungane that he had advised Bryer to draw up fraudulant contracts: \u201cHow can he get advice from someone who is not legal, yet he is a legal person? We never had an engagement with that client called Nombasa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryer, who stopped representing Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu and Umkhombe after an apparent fallout over a R3-million fee, declined comment. He is believed to have surrendered his files to IDAC for their Mapisa-Nqakula investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing in<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come May 2019, Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu was spooked. She had been leaked a draft affidavit made by Simphiwe Damane-Mkosana, Gulube\u2019s former legal adviser, in response to a query from the military police \u2013 who, it was crystal clear, were storming ahead with their fraud-and-corruption investigation into the Sudan tender and Umkhombe\u2019s R30-million claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa forwarded the affidavit to Bryer, who forwarded it to attorney Louis Weinstein, whom he instructed to write to Gulube with a demand to have the investigation quashed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe contract was approved by all the required parties,\u201d Bryer wrote. \u201cNow three years later this contract is being investigated by the military police\u2026 The rumour, totally unfounded is that the contract was awarded through bribery and corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gulube and Mapisa-Nqakula \u201cmust be advised accordingly and an immediate stop [be] put to this,\u201d Bryer wrote, adding ominously: \u201cTheir positions are in jeopardy too\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu would have none of Weinstein though. She wanted an advocate to write the letter, not an attorney. \u201cEric the reason I paid R100,000.00 is to get a high profile advocate I can’t poke a bear with a small stick like this\u2026 This is not a can of worms I can open & run when done, this is my life & future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryer then instructed an advocate, Norman Makhubela. Makhubela\u2019s subsequent missive, to his credit, contained no personal threats to Gulube and the minister, but demanded he \u201cimmediately and decisively bring this malicious investigation to its conclusion\u201d, failing which Umkhombe would \u201chave no other option but to exercise her legal options\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the strategy was to give Gulube pretext \u2013 once again to avoid a lawsuit \u2013 is not known. Either way, the military police did not back off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come April 2020, Bryer seemed to panic too. He emailed fellow attorney Andr\u00e9 Steenkamp pleading for advice. \u201cI know she is best friends of the secretary general Sam Gulube who I suspect is the brains. I also acted for Gulube\u2019s wife at one stage. She told me Gulube\u2019s share was R7-million for the contract. It is common that there is a case of tender fraud\u2026 What do you think sir? Please advise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military police arrested Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu in October 2020 and she was charged with fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fraud charges stemmed from the allegedly false empowerment, insurance and financial credibility certificates she had submitted for her 2014 DRC tender, as well as her allegedly false claim for R30-million after the Sudan tender was put on hold in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The corruption charges related to the R1.35-million allegedly paid to former joint operations chief Mgwebi via his wife\u2019s company Perfume de Lux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charges, however, were struck off shortly before Mapisa-Nqakula\u2019s arrest last April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read all about it here <\/a>and in our in-depth analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Be sure to also read part two of this story, as well as our in-depth analysis. In the early 2000s, Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu led an ordinary life. An SAA flight attendant who had studied to be a nurse, she was involved…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":32513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32551,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32512\/revisions\/32551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}