Former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is taking his fight against his dismissal straight to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s door, writes City Press.
Mkhize was axed after the SIU found that he, his family and close associates improperly benefited from an irregular tender. He now wants to clear his name before the ANC’s elective conference by having the SIU findings against him set aside.
Mkhize is demanding that the SIU produce a Cabinet resolution that it says proves he broke the law by awarding the National Health Insurance (NHI) communications contract to Digital Vibes when the work should have been done by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). This is the second time he has gone to court in a bid to have the SIU report into the Digital Vibes tender reviewed and set aside. His first application did not succeed.
In his latest action, filed at the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) in December, Mkhize asked the court to force the SIU to comply with court rules and provide him with the Cabinet resolution regarding the assignment of the GCIS to lead and implement the NHI communications strategy. If the SIU fails to produce the resolution, Mkhize wants the agency’s opposition to his application to be struck off the court roll.
There have long been claims that Mkhize collected alleged kickbacks from investment deals involving the state-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) when he held the powerful position of ANC treasurer-general, alleges a Scorpio investigative team report on the Daily Maverick site.
Now Maverick reports on what it says may be the first compelling evidence in support of these allegations. Its probe links a R5,9m payment for a property purchased by Mkhize’s trust to a substantial transaction fee earned off the back of a huge funding deal facilitated by the PIC. The R1,37bn investment was bankrolled with funds from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). The PIC acts as an investment manager for the UIF.
The Scorpio probe reveals that a company owned by “well-known PIC dealmaker” Lawrence Mulaudzi in 2018 paid R5,9m into a transfer attorney’s account for a townhouse bought by Mkhize’s ZLM Trust. Mulaudzi’s company, Blackgold Oil and Gas, made the payment only one day after it had pocketed a R47,5m fee for “advisory” work on the R1,37bn PIC/UIF deal. Mulaudzi strongly denied that it had been an alleged kickback paid to Mkhize in relation to Mulaudzi’s dealings with the PIC.
City Press article – Zweli Mkhize fights back (Restricted access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Deokaran murder: Prosecutor says Zweli Mkhize either ‘potential witness or suspect’
Mkhize challenges 'unlawful and unconstitutional’ SIU conduct
Health oversight committee ‘shielded’ Mkhize during Digital Vibes scandal
SIU demands that Mkhize and family repay R4m