By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The civil matter between Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi and former Chairperson of Productivity SA and CEO of Thuja Capital, Mthunzi Mdwaba, has been postponed to the 2nd of February.
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.
This after Mdwaba accused the minister and other high-profile figures of trying to solicit R500-million in bribes for the project to be approved.
Those he implicated include ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who has since opened a criminal case against the businessman, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
The case was meant to begin in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday morning.
UIF spokesperson Trevor Hattingh said Mdwaba and his legal team were not ready to proceed.
“The matter was not placed on the court roll for today. However, in December, when we first appeared, there was a mutual understanding between the council from both sides that the matter would proceed on the 25th of January.
“We were also directed that on the 5th of January, court papers from both sides need to be filed. Our papers were filed, but Mdwaba’s papers were not filed.
“They have been giving us the run-around for quite some time now”.
Hattingh said the department is ready to proceed.
“This matter is not pertaining to the bribery allegations. This is to set aside R5 billion UIF Thuja holdings for Thuja Capital contract.
“It is for the court to decide whether the contract still stands. As far as we are concerned, this matter needs to proceed,” he added.
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.