The ANC national executive committee (NEC), after forcing Deputy President Paul Mashatile and human settlements minister Thembi Simelane to excuse themselves at last weekend’s meeting, baulked at debating the report amidst fears of a contentious recommendation on the party’s Number 2.
Sunday World can reveal that the integrity commission (IC) report on Mashatile, which made no damning findings, recommended that Mashatile “consider” using state houses provided for his use in Gauteng and Western Cape.
However, insiders claim, fears that this recommendation may bite President Cyril Ramaphosa in the future brought about the buying-of-time approach by deferring the report to the national officials of the former liberation movement.
The national officials are now likely to discuss the report in their weekly meeting tomorrow, and are said to be cagey about the “bizarre” recommendation and likely to advise the IC to drop it.
The report on Mashatile, which was beamed through an overhead projector at the NEC meeting last weekend, revealed things he was grilled on when he appeared before it last year.
Among others were his family homes in Cape Town and Waterfall in Midrand, which he uses from time to time.
He was also quizzed about his relationship with controversial Gauteng businessman Edwin Sodi and his ex-lovers Norma Mbatha and Gugu Nkosi.
The report revealed that Mashatile successfully explained to the IC that with regards to Mbatha and Nkosi, he had long cut ties with them.
Those who had sight of the report said he also told the IC that he had also distanced himself from Sodi because of pending matters.
Sodi is in court in Bloemfontein, where he is charged with corruption alongside former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule over the R255-million asbestos roofs audit tender in the Free State.
Mashatile also explained that his residing at the family homes in Waterfall and Cape Town was ordinary for anyone with a family.
It is in this regard that the IC apparently said he must be careful staying in houses owned by family members who might attract unnecessary attention for him and, by extension, the ANC, especially now that he is in government.
“The report of the integrity commission essentially boiled down to the houses, and it says that the DP (Mashatile) should not stay in houses of people who have questionable characters because it reflects on him,” said a leader with intimate knowledge of the IC report.
“The report was deferred to the national officials because the issue is that there is a recommendation saying the DP must stay in state houses, but the meeting took a dim view on this because the president also stays in private homes, so when you say Paul must stay in a state house, what do you say about others?”
Several NEC members we spoke to were in chorus that the recommendation was an overreach because there was no law saying people serving in the national executive, especially the president and his deputy, are compelled to live in state houses.
If such a recommendation was allowed to find expression, they warned, it had the potential to backfire and affect unintended targets, even if those who came up with it might have thought it was about Mashatile.
“Many people were expecting a lot from that report on the DP, but there is nothing exciting there.
“They say DP must ‘consider’ staying in a state house. What does that mean? Sometimes, as the ANC, we get carried away by things that ordinarily should not be entertained.
“For instance, many people have made use of their private homes, even as far back as Thabo Mbeki, including the incumbent head of state. Ba mo sukela DP.”
Some NEC members complained that the IC should have outrightly dismissed the unwarranted controversy stemming from Mashatile’s family homes, like it did about his ex-lovers.
The home in Cape Town is owned by Mashatile’s son-in-law, while the house in Waterfall is co-owned by the deputy president’s son and the son-in-law.
“The report almost sounds like there is government money that was used as if it is some Nkandla arrangement,” said our informant.
“But the facts are the DP’s son-in-law got into business as a teenager before even meeting the DP’s son and has been doing business since and owns filling stations all over, and other things, which is where he makes his money, and that is how he can afford to buy the house, with a bond because he can service it.
“The DP’s son did business with the state once, and it was for a project he completed.”
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, said: “The report is going to the national officials for processing, and we will then provide a statement on the report after the officials have processed it.
“I am not mandated on that matter at the moment.”
