Thuja Capital CEO Mthunzi Mdwaba has outed Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi among the three ANC ministers implicated in the R500-million scandal involving his company and the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (UIF) in a 750,000 jobs deal.
Following the Sunday World exclusive that three ANC ministers allegedly solicited a 10% kickback from the R5-billion project, on Tuesday Mdwaba told the Newzroom Afrika television channel that Nxesi was implicated.
He added that at least two of the three high-ranking government intermediaries who approached him to facilitate the bribe represented the Treasury, which is under the direction of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, and the Department of Higher Education under the direction of Minister Blade Nzimande.
The ANC secretariat office under the governing party’s secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, was also mentioned, he said.
Over the weekend, Sunday World reported that Mdwaba, whose company stands accused of trying to score a quick R5-billion from the UIF irregularly, fingered three ANC cabinet ministers, who allegedly, through their associates, offered to push the deal through in exchange for a R500-million bribe.
Speaking to Sunday World Engage this week about the widely reported jobs creation deal that has seen employment and labour director-general Thobile Lamati resign, Mdwaba said he was approached by three high-ranking government officials who solicited the bribe, claiming they were sent by the implicated ministers.
‘Gutter journalism’ accusation
Mdwaba said the allegedly corrupt ministers demanded 10% of the R5-billion to help him pull the deal off. Sunday World was able to establish the names of the implicated ministers and approached them for comment. The three ministers rejected the allegations.
Following the publication, in which none of the implicated ministers were named, Nxesi’s special advisor Lumko Mtimde accused Sunday World of “gutter journalism”.
“From a journalistic point of view, nowhere in the article are questions to the accuser, the Thuja Capital CEO Mthunzi Mdwaba, on whether he did report the bribes to the police and laid charges against these so-called ministers? If not, why not? And if not, why would the claims and accusations be regarded as valid and be entertained?”
“It is also strange that names of the referred ministers are withheld. Surely, if such names were disclosed to Minister Nxesi, who said he was not aware of this referred agreement, but now he is also accused of seeking a bribe, he would have disclosed them himself or the forensic report would have revealed them,” Mtimde added.
He continued: “The article does not probe the possibility of the so-called intermediaries name-dropping and brandishing Ministers names and just using the name of the ANC as a party when soliciting bribes. If the story of these intermediaries was to be believed, they hold the key to the truth, which begs the question, why are we not hearing more from them, by way of quotes in the articles. Even if the target is politicians rather than the intermediaries, at least some evidence from the intermediaries should have been provided in the article.
“Society must deeply resent attempts to cover up corruption by some journalists, whose interests appear to be nothing but peddle defamatory narratives of a government that is failing to curb corruption and anti-ANC campaign. What these journalists did, was to publish an article despite the questions regarding corruption in the matter, failed moral and ethical leadership, and promote unhelpful but deeply hurtful false propaganda. Such practice in the profession is a threat to media freedom.”
This is a developing story.
