Zondo commission – Forensic director lays bare EOH transactions made to ANC members
26 November 2020
ENS forensic director Steven Powell told the state capture commission on Wednesday that directors of IT company EOH made several payments to prominent ANC members, including Zizi Kodwa, Reggie Nkabinde and the advisor of former president Jacob Zuma, Siyabulela Zintwa. During his testimony on Monday, EOH chief executive Stephen van Coller told the commission that when he was appointed he called in forensic investigators after noticing tender irregularities between EOH and government departments.
Powell testified that EOH made numerous payments ranging from R30 000 to R500 000 to the trio between 2015 and 2017. The commission further heard from Powell that current Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo maintained an unethical business relationship with the IT firm.
“We could not find any contracts between Molelwane Consulting and Tactical Software Solutions Managed Services (TSSMS), except an unsigned agreement. But services to be delivered by Molelwane include business advisory, change management and business development,” Powell told the commission.
Powell further explained that TSSMS is a subsidiary of EOH.
While Makhubo resigned as director of Molelwane Holdings in 2011, he remained director of Molelwane Consulting until 2019. The current sole director of Molelwane Consulting is Florence Makhubo, whom Powell believes is Geoff’s mother, but he could not confirm.
Molelwane Consulting continued to receive payments from EOH or other EOH entities without any indication of work done. Subsequently the money paid to Molelwane Consulting would end up in Geoff Makhubo’s personal bank account.
ENS’ forensic investigation found that the relationship between Geoff and former EOH business development executive Patrick Makhubedu went beyond Molelwane’s money for nothing. EOH paid money to the ANC disguised as donations to the party and in return, would get contracts with the City of Johannesburg. Powell believes Makhubo would facilitate these contracts for EOH. During this time, Geoff Makhubo was the ANC treasurer-general for the greater Johannesburg region, and the city’s finance MMC.
“We found incidents of the tender amount going up from the awarded amount. We found a multitude of tender abuse at EOH; they would collude with people in government to have tenders extended, and we had multiple extensions of tenders. EOH would get information before the tender was even out, so they had an advantage over their competitors. If about to lose a tender, they would reach out to politically exposed people who would influence the tenders in their favour,” added Powell.
During the course of its investigation, ENS found e-mails mostly between the current Johannesburg mayor and Makhubedu. On 6 August 2014, Makhubo sent e-mail to Makhubedu requesting funds for the relaunch of the ANC Youth League in greater Johannesburg. Makhubo instructed Makhubedu that the funds could be paid to the ANC or to the accommodation venue where the event was going to be held. Powell says that Makhubo e-mailed the greater Johannesburg ANC’s bank account details; Makhubedu forwarded these e-mails to the then TSSMS financial manager. EOH’s head of public business Jehan Mackay authorised the payment of over R500 000 for the requested accommodation.
Powell told the commission that investigators noticed a pattern – EOH would donate to the ANC and a month later, it would get a contract with the city. In one instance Powell says, EOH even made an unsolicited tender proposal to the city, which was successful. According to Powell, Makhubedu drafted the letter of approval on the city’s letterhead and only sent it to Makhubo for his signature, as he was MMC.
In a similar manner, Makhubo requested donations from EOH for the 2016 elections, claiming the funds will help the ANC with logistics leading up to the elections; he further thanked Makhubedu for his continued support for the governing party.
Makhubo will appear before the Zondo commission on Friday.
Issued by Corruption Watch, 26 November 2020
