Proof of donations to ANC by Hlongwa-linked company

1 August 2018

Court documents made public today by the Democratic Alliance show conclusively that the ANC received donations from a company that profited hugely from the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) when Brian Hlongwa was Health MEC.

Click here and here to view the documents.

The documents are in annexures to a report by the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) which was part of an application by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in July 2014 against 3P Consulting and Brian Hlongwa to seize assets suspected to be the proceeds of crime in dealings with the GDoH.

According to emails and a Standard Bank Customer Payments Report, R130 000 was paid to the ANC Sedibeng Region by 3P Consulting (Pty) on 14 August 2008.

This was used to pay for half the costs of the ANC Women’s League Conference held from 15 to 18 August 2008 at the Khaya Ibhubesi Conference Centre in Parys in the Free State.

An email from Mlungisi (most likely Mlungisi Hlongwane, who is prominent in the ANC in Sedibeng) thanks Mr Richard Payne, 3P’s Managing Director, for assisting with a donation for the ANC Women’s League.

He requests the confirmation of transfer to lbe faxed to him “so that we can take the slip to the booked venue. This will enable the ANCWL to conclude on the logistics arrangements on time.”

Another Standard Bank report shows R40 000 transferred from 3P to a “Friends of the ANC” (FRANC) bank account on 24 February 2009, which was shortly before the general election.

This amount was authorized by Richard Payne on a Donation Transfer Request document, and the FRANC account number was provided in an email from a company called Bosele Placements.

Hlongwa has admitted that Mr Richard Payne, 3P’s Managing Director, was his long-time friend.

A 3P employee was irregularly appointed as acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Gauteng Health of Department (GhoD) when Hlongwa was Health MEC from 2006 to 2009.

This company set up a Project Management Unit that awarded contracts to companies in which it had a share or siphoned money through gross overcharging.

One of these companies was Bosele Placements, which according to an affidavit by a Bosele employee: “GDoH was forced to use Bosele’s staff even though they resented the presence of the Bosele staff as Bosele duplicated their duties. Richard Payne and Arno Hart have shares in Bosele Placements.”

According to another employee: “Bosele invoiced ridiculous hours and amounts ... (they) billed hours from the time that they leave home to go to the hospital where they were posted. I am not sure that they worked all the hours that were billed. There was apparently no limitation on the hours that Bosele staff could bill.”

According to an affidavit by Eric Bryer, an attorney with a company that dealt with 3P and Bosele: “It quickly became apparent that 3P was milking the GDoH in every possible way .... 3P invented projects for GDoH so that it could make money. The intention was to get as much out of the GDoH as possible.”

The ACTT report recommends that R51 million in total can be claimed back from 3P because of suspected fictitious work and gross overcharging by Bosele.

There is good reason to believe that far higher amounts were funnelled by 3P to the ANC in Gauteng, involving not just Hlongwa but also then ANC Provincial Chairperson Paul Mashatile, who is now ANC Treasurer General.

According to Bryer’s affidavit: “Richard was often in the company of Brian Hlongwa and Paul Mashatile, who was the Premier of Gauteng at the time. They were all interested in grands prix, with Obakeng Mookeletsi, and travelled around the world to attend the races. Richard used to tell me about his relationship with Mashatile, and phoned him in my presence. He said he sponsored Mashatile. I do not know how the sponsorships were channeled.”

These documents should assist the police in following up the charge I have laid against the ANC for contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act by receiving the proceeds of unlawful activities.

According to the DA’s Hlongwa Monitor, it is now 41 days since the public release of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report which implicated him in R1.2 billion corruption, but he has still not been fired as ANC Chief Whip in the Gauteng Legislature.

Hlongwa’s re-election to the ANC‘s Provincial Executive Committee shows that they endorse corruption despite Premier David Makhura’s hollow words against it.

If Makhura really cared about corruption, he would make the ANC “pay back the money” that came from corrupt activities according to solid evidence.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 1 August 2018