By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Public Protector found no evidence that former health Minister Zweli Mkhize interfered in a R220 million loan that was granted by the Public Investment Corporation to Afric Oil.
In a report released late on Wednesday, the Public Protector said it investigated media reports that alleged Mkhize, as Treasurer-General of the ANC, facilitated the granting of the loan to the local oil company in 2016, and demanded a R4.5 million fee in return.
Both Mkhize and the PIC denied these claims, and the Public Protector found no evidence that Mkhize had “improperly interfered” in the PIC’s procedures to grant the loan. It also found that Mkhize did not “improperly receive a payment for facilitating such loan”.
The PP said its finding was supported by the fact that the PIC did not reject an initial loan application to Afric Oil, as was alleged in some of the reports. It said that this was “a critical component of the complaint”, as the allegation was that Afric Oil only approached Mkhize for assistance after an initial loan application was declined by the PIC.
It also found that the loan to Afric Oil followed the necessary due diligence and approval processes.
At the time of the allegations, PIC said that it regarded Afric Oil as an important emerging fuel supplier – the first black-empowered entity in the petroleum industry – and said that the loan would be used to grow its logistics division, the acquisition of storage facilities and the provision of working capital.
“The PIC regards [it] with the potential to create jobs and advance entrepreneurship,” it said in a statement.
Here is the PIC response on the Sunday Times report on Afric Oil:PIC response Sunday Times Report on Afric Oil.
Mkhize has been drawn into a legal scrap over an alleged R4.5-million kickback for helping an oil company get a huge loan from the Public Investment Corporation.
A Johannesburg law firm has named Mkhize in a legal claim against Afric Oil, which described itself as South Africa’s “first BEE fuel distribution company”.
In a letter dated October 2017, the law firm claims to be acting for Zonkizizwe Investments, which it says is “wholly owned by the ANC”.
The letter claims that at a meeting at Luthuli House “sometime in early June 2016” a loan application to the PIC “was extensively discussed and the TG agreed to promote Afric Oil’s projects, including providing support for the facilitation of the PIC loan”.
The meeting came after an initial loan application had been rejected by the government pension fund manager, the letter said.
It further claims that it was agreed that “due to the sensitive nature of the matter, no capital-raising agreement should be concluded between Afric Oil and Zonkizizwe and that the parties should rely on the verbal undertakings”.
It said a “fund-raising fee shall be shared amongst them”, with R4.5-million going to Mkhize. The loan was for R210-million.
Mkhize,then minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, denied all knowledge of the agreement.
“At no point did I play a role in facilitating a loan from the PIC for a company called Afric Oil. I also have no relationship with a company called Zonkizizwe Investments.
“But Mkhize’s predecessor, Mathews Phosa, confirmed that Zonkizizwe was an “ANC-formed company”
He said the company had been formed “to take care of ANC elders, but it never paid its dividends to the party while I was there”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mkhize was dealt a severe public blow after the Special Investigation Unit report into Digital Vibes was made public by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In another report,Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan did not interfere in the appointment of the CEO of Mango Airlines in 2019, the Public Protector has found.
Two of the probes related to complaints lodged by EFF member of Parliament Floyd Shivambu.
In October 2020, Shivambu asked the Public Protector to investigate whether former finance minister Tito Mboweni irregularly appointed former journalist Ranjeni Munusamy as community outreach officer at National Treasury. Mkhwebane closed the case as allegations that Mboweni contravened the executive ethics code could not be corroborated.
In the prior year, Shivambu also lodged a request for investigation about whether Gordhan meddled in the recruitment process of Mango Airlines’ CEO, which resulted in the appointment of Nico Bezuidenhout.
Shivambu alleged that the minister illegally instructed the chairperson of the Mango Board, Matsidiso Peter Tshisevhe, through his adviser, to ensure that Bezuidenhout be appointed as CEO of the airline, the Public Protector’s report read.
Meanwhile the COO of the Office of the Public Protector (PPSA), Charles Mohalaba, has tendered his resignation from the Chapter 9 institution, giving 24 hours’ notice of his departure this week.