State must recover R1.2 billion from State capture enablers and facilitators

28 July 2022

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite by Adv Glynnis Breytenbach MP.

The DA is calling on the relevant law enforcement agencies to prioritize the recovery of R1.2 billion from the enablers and facilitators of State capture, as recommended by the Zondo Commission. In various parts of the Commission’s five-volume report, specific recommendations are made in which the State is instructed to recover state money from individuals and organisations who were enablers of State capture.

Based on these findings, and the DA’s own calculations from the information provided in the report, the total amount that these individuals and organisations must pay is R1.2 billion. State capture enablers and facilitators either received monetary benefits for facilitating the award of State contracts to Gupta enterprises or procured services that were never delivered.

While the DA welcomes the Zondo Commission’s recommendation that the R57 billion laundered by the Guptas through local and international networks be traced and recovered, the R1.2 billion that the Commission indicated should be directly recoverable from State capture enablers, must be paid back without delay.

According to the Zondo Report, the enablers and facilitators of State capture:

Manipulated contracts to benefit Gupta enterprises;

Prejudiced State-owned enterprises (SOEs) through irregular payments;

Received advance payment for services that were never delivered;

Made irregular and unauthorised payments to individuals; and

The preferential procurement from Gupta enterprises.

The DA insists that the ANC government ensure the following corrupt cadres and cronies pay back their blood money:

Timothy Mokhesi, who as the former head of the Department of Human Settlements appointed and paid Blackhead Consulting/Diamond Hill Joint Venture R255 million to identify and remove asbestos from roofs of houses provided by the Free State provincial government, despite the company’s “misrepresentation” of its ability to do the job. The Zondo Report called the project a “considerable scam from its inception” and said it was clear that it was always intended to benefit the company and various government officials.

Mosebenzi Zwane, the former Free State MEC for human settlement, who “failed to provide proper provincial leadership” regarding a R1 billion housing project when former Free State Premier Ace Magashule changed the scope of the project without consulting the Department of Human Settlements or the contractors for the project. Along with Moses Mpho Mokoena, the former head of the Department, Zwane also illegally paid the contractors R500 million in advance.

Not only did the Zondo Report state that the Commission would have been unnecessary had the State Security Agency (SSA) investigated and halted State capture when the first signs emerged, it also found that former State Security Minister David Mahlobo overstepped and interfered with and ran SSA operations. The State lost R1.5 billion between 2012 and 2018 – some which Mahlobo received as large amounts of cash. He also facilitated the payment of R2.5 million a month in 2015/16 and R4.5 million per month 2016/17 to former President Jacob Zuma.

It was under Thulani Dlomo, the head of Chief Directorate of Special Operations (CDSO), that SSA was abused for Zuma’s benefit and Presidential Security Support Services reported slurped up SSA resources.

The Zondo Report called former spy boss Arthur Fraser a law unto himself regarding his use of SSA money.

Former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng cost the SABC R420 000 by organising a discounted deal with ANN7 for archival SABC footage. SABC ultimately never received payment. He also bullied SABC executives into accepting a deal with MultiChoice in the country’s migration from analogue to digital broadcasting thereby costing the public broadcaster a potential income worth billions. Motsoeneng was also involved in the SABC’s partnerships with ANN7 and The New Age (TNA) to host the TNA Breakfast briefings on which the public broadcaster continually made a loss, while ANN7 and TNA profited.

The Zondo Commission recommended that money be recovered from Zwane, Ace Magashule, and the former head of the Free State Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Peter Thabethe, for their involvement in paying R280.2 million to Estina – the Gupta-linked company responsible for the disastrous Vrede Dairy Project.

The Guptas and the ANC cadre deployees used Transnet as their own personal piggy banks, “primarily through the Gupta racketeering enterprise”. Contracts worth R41.2 billion were awarded to companies linked to the Guptas or their associate Salim Essa. All the money must be recouped from former Transnet CEOs, Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama, and the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Anoj Singh, as well as all other board members involved in State capture.

The Airports Company SA (ACSA) must recoup money misappropriated by the Gupta-linked Regiments Capital and the company’s former and current owners, SAA, Nedbank, and Standard Bank under the interest swap contracts.

The State capture billions is taxpayers money that should have been spent improving the lives of South Africans, Instead, it were used to line the pockets of a corrupt ANC government and their comrades. The first step to correct the ‘great heist’ of the State capture era is to recover State funds from the enablers and facilitators of State capture as a matter of urgency.

Issued by Glynnis Breytenbach, Shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, 28 July 2022