A Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) employee has been dismissed after being found guilty – in an internal disciplinary hearing – of taking kickbacks from Digital Vibes, in the scandal involving disgraced former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize.
Lizeka Tonjeni was arrested in May 2022 and charged with one count of corruption relating to a R3.9m tender awarded to Digital Vibes in 2018 for communication work, reports News24.
Tonjeni, as MISA's project manager for the contract, allegedly accepted a R160 000 bribe paid in eight instalments over two years.
At the time, MISA fell under the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, of which Mkhize was Minister.
Digital Vibes made headlines in 2021 when Mkhize was Minister of Health and the company was, the year before, handed a R150m contract to run communications for Covid-19, a function that was supposed to be performed by health officials themselves.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) found that the contract was irregular and unlawful, and that Mkhize, who was close to Digital Vibes’ owners Tahera Mather and Naadirah Mitha, and his family benefitted from it.
The case involving Tonjeni is the first prosecution of anyone involved with Digital Vibes.
Last week prosecutors presented their final arguments in her corruption trial in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court and signalled that the controversial company and its owners would be next.
Tonjeni’s trial began in September 2022 and she pleaded not guilty.
MISA suspended her after her first court appearance and subjected her to a disciplinary hearing in August 2022 and concluded in October of that year.
According to MISA, Tonjeni was found guilty of:
• Dishonesty for obtaining money from the service provider without permission or declaration thereof;
• Failure to disclose conflict of interest; and
• Making false declarations in a financial disclosures form.
About a year later, in August 2023, she was dismissed by MISA.
The agency said the dismissal was currently being challenged at the “bargaining council but, at employer level, it has been implemented”.
Tonjeni's defence
In her criminal trial, Tonjeni did not dispute that she received several payments from Digital Vibes through Mather.
An SIU report found that Mather was one of the de facto owners and actual beneficiaries of Digital Vibes, even though its director was listed as Radha Hariram, a petrol station manager in KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal.
Instead, Tonjeni said she had a side business that bought and resold healthcare products for Zija International.
She said Mather bought products worth R94 600 from her and also gave her two loans of R50 000 each, meant for a farming business she wanted to establish in the Eastern Cape.
Tonjeni said there was no loan agreement and admitted that the loans had not yet been paid back.
State's version
Prosecutor Willem van Zyl took the court through bank statements showing Tonjeni had received several payments directly from Digital Vibes’ bank account and another bank account belonging to a company called Composite Trade and Investments.
The bank account for the company was opened by Mather.
Between December 2018 and August 2020, eight payments totalling R160 000 were paid into Tonjeni’s Capitec account from the Composite bank account.
The state uncovered a further 10 payments within the same time frame, totalling R34 700.
Evidence was led from MISA’s records that Tonjeni made no financial disclosures between 2018 and 2020.
She made one disclosure that she was the sole director of a consultancy company called Divine Spectrum – which had made no money during the period mentioned.
Van Zyl rubbished Tonjeni’s version that she had sold healthcare products to Mather, telling the court a simple analysis of her bank accounts proved the payments were for something other than healthcare products.
Additionally, Tonjeni also received several payments relating to Zija International, smaller amounts that had not been rounded out like the payments made by Digital Vibes and Composite Trade.
These payments stopped before her first payment from Digital Vibes.
“There is not one single transaction after 6 September 2018 indicating that clients paid money into her (Tonjeni’s) account for products they bought, that she received commission for products she sold, or that she paid for and bought stock to sell.”
According to the state, there was also a correlation between Tonjeni being paid and her signing off on invoices confirming that Digital Vibes had done work.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Digital Vibes graft accused closes testimony without calling witnesses
Employee in court for alleged ‘kickback’ from Digital Vibes tender
Tribunal dismisses Digital Vibes beneficiaries’ bid to avoid scrutiny