By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Controversial businessman, Mthunzi Mdwaba, has suffered another legal blow after the High Court in Pretoria dismissed his application against Labour Minister,Thulas Nxesi.
Nxesi approached the court in an urgent application to have the contentious Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Thuja Holdings R5-billion job-creation deal set aside.
The minister raised concerns about the deal’s legality and validity, arguing that it was concluded in breach of the Public Finance Management Act.
The court refused to grant Mdwaba an order to be provided with the documents they wanted regarding the matter.
The court was also hearing an urgent application brought by Nxesi to stop the R5 billion contract to Mdwaba’s company, Thuja Holdings.
Judgement has been reserved.
The court has just refused to grant us an order to be provided with the documents we require to run our matter.
Now we are proceeding to the main case.— Prof Mthunzi Mdwaba (@Tzoro1) February 2, 2024
The R5 billion agreement between Thuja Holdings and the UIF was concluded in December 2022; however, Nxesi called for the suspension of the Thuja Capital Fund Project after it had been brought into question by media reports.
In early November, Mdwaba publicly alleged that “middle-men” attempted to facilitate a R500 million bribe on behalf of Nxesi, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, and Fikile Mbalula.
Mdwaba was adamant that the deal failed because he refused to pay the bribes.
Godongwana subsequently sued Mdwaba for defamation, demanding R1 million in the suit, citing that a variety of news stations interviewed Mdwaba, and the allegations made against him had destroyed his reputation.
Mdwaba has been ordered to pay damages to Godongwana and cannot conduct any interviews where he mentions the finance minister or any other minister he had accused.
Johannesburg High Court judge Dario Dosio ruled that the assertions made by Mdwaba were “defamatory” and “false”.
“The failure [by Mdwaba] to establish if what [unnamed individuals] told him was substantially true is fatal to this defence. The public cannot be expected to believe these statements where there is no proof to substantiate the allegations,” said the judge.
Dosio also said that Godongwana had to bring these proceedings to protect his rights and reputation because he was “a victim of a vicious assault on his dignity”.
Mdwaba told the court that he believed the allegations were “substantially” true and published in the public interest.
Nxesi also brought an urgent application in December, to prevent Mdwaba from making the accusations. Mbalula, in November, opened a case of crimen injuria against the businessman.
The R5bn would have gone towards starting Thuja’s operations, investment in listed and unlisted companies, with the hopes of using the equity to push for companies to employ more people, and unsecured grant funding for the unemployed to start businesses.
In return, the UIF would have received a 19% stake in the companies Thuja invested in, including an unnamed bank, and an insurance firm.