Top ANC man Danny Msiza & his R164m empire
12 December
While his political future seems uncertain, it does not appear as if former ANC Limpopo treasurer-general Danny Msiza will be losing any sleep over his future income.
Court documents filed on Tuesday have revealed that in 2016, Msiza and his wife, Mmabogoshi Bellah Msiza, claimed to be cumulatively worth a little more than R164m at the end of December that year.
Attached to court documents filed by Advocate Terry Motau SC on Tuesday is a statement of assets and liabilities for the couple, which was submitted to VBS in support of an application for a questionable R9.5m bond the bank granted the Msiza’s company, Mojovax, in early 2017.
Motau filed papers in response to a bid by Msiza to have parts of Motau’s report ‘ The great bank heist’ deleted or expunged. The report gave a detailed account of the wide-scale looting and fraud totalling more than R2bn that led to the collapse of VBS.
Msiza filed an application with the Pretoria High Court in October this year.
Motau has now motivated and presented the evidence which led to him including Msiza in the report and in excruciating detail has set out how Msiza personally benefitted from the looting of VBS Mutual Bank.
This includes the multi-million rand bond for a 7 600 square metre property in central Polokwane and a little more than R1.5m in cash, also paid to Mojovax by politically connected middleman Kabelo Matsepe.
Matsepe’s company Moshate Investments received R27m from ‘slush fund’ accounts operated by VBS executives as commissions on investments made by Limpopo municipalities.
The court papers show that Msiza personally benefited from the VBS cash.
News24 previously reported that the property was a home, but has since verified that it is in fact a spa and conference centre on Grobler Street in central Polokwane.
The evidence provided to the courts show how repayments on the bond totaling R700 000 were made sporadically by Matsepe, and a further R1.3m from an unknown Standard Bank account.
Msiza resigned on Tuesday after receiving what News24 understands to be an instruction from a senior ANC leader to do so.
In his resignation letter Msiza emphasises that his decision to step aside is not an admission of guilt and reaffirmed his legal challenge of Motau’s report.
“My direct financial interface with the bank [VBS] is a legitimate commercial property loan (not a home loan) which I have prepaid until January 2019. The source of the funding is perfectly legitimate,” he added.
He also explained that over and above his position in the ANC he was “an entrepreneur with a broad corporate portfolio and consequently extensive relations in the corporate sector”.
From the financial statement attached to Motau’s papers, it seems Mr Msiza has built a considerable fortune from his entrepreneurial ventures – well before he accepted handouts from VBS.
Property mogul
The 'financial statement' of the Msiza couple was signed off by CJ Accountants, also based in Polokwane, with one very important caveat: "The financial statements were prepared from information and explanations provided by Mr M D Msiza. No audit was done."
This is key – the accountants did not actually verify if any of the assets listed by Mr Msiza did exist or in fact belong to him, but simply drafted the statement based on what Msiza claimed.
Msiza is somewhat of a property mogul, owning various properties in Polokwane worth more than R60m.
All told his property portfolio (held through various companies) amounts to nearly R100m.
According to the financial statement, Mojovax owned R34.9m in worth of property in 2016. Since then, the R9.5m Polokwane central property was purchased through VBS and assuming he has not sold off any of his property, that will bump up Mojovax’s asset base to R44m.
These properties include a R13m home in the upmarket Scott Estate in Hout Bay and a portion of Hollandsdrift farm, 25km south of Polokwane worth R16.5m.
Hollandsdrift is home to the four star Protea Hotel by Marriot Polokwane Ranch Resort, believed to be owned by Msiza.
In June this year, the Limpopo ANC held its elective conference at the venue.
Msiza further owns Ingwe Ranch (valued at R7m) and Limpopo Guest Manor, a four star lodge situated in Polokwane central worth an estimated R15m.
The remainder of his properties are various homes in Polokwane, one a R9.5m pad in Cycad Estate. He also owns office buildings in Centurion and Polokwane as well as a R6.5m home in Irene, Pretoria.
Property records show that some of these purchases were made between 2012 and 2017.
Rich man, poor man
The remainder of Msiza’s wealth stems from shares he holds in Nkulunge, which holds BEE shareholding in Cell C. This is valued at R7.5m.
He also holds a stake in Marula Platinum – part of the Implats stable, worth R12.8m. Marula Platinum mine is situated in Limpopo.
Msiza listed a projected profit of R41m from his Karibu Group, which is involved in insurance and construction.
He also lists a projected profit of R12m from a company named DW Projects North West, of which little information was immediately available.
Perhaps Msiza’s crowning jewel? A BMW 525 which he valued at a modest R250 000.
