South Africans may never get to hear what happened to the millions in misappropriated shares and stolen money redistributed by slain magnate Brett Kebble to a wide network of high-profile beneficiaries.
Recently a senior civil court magistrate in Cape Town ordered that the Section 152 inquiry under the Insolvency Act be held in camera, thus denying the nation the opportunity of learning how those who benefited from Kebble’s largesse now came to find themselves in a tricky position.
A legal expert expressed surprise that the inquiry was held in camera and added that “compelling reasons” would need to have been given to support the ruling.
Several prominent ANC officials, including Tony Yengeni, Songezo Mjongile, Andile Nkuhlu, Lunga Ncwana, Popo Molefe and Andrew Mlangeni, were the alleged recipients of Kebble’s largesse and were due to be subpoenaed to testify at hearings in Cape Town and Gauteng.
Asked to provide reasons for the in camera ruling, presiding officer and senior magistrate at the Wynberg civil court, a Mr Dimaza, said he was “not accountable to the media”.
The Section 152 inquiry is an attempt by the auditors to determine how and why various people received sums of money, expensive cars and houses or extravagant gifts from Kebble.
The recently completed forensic investigation into Kebble’s “empire” identified recoverable assets of R1,5-billion out of R1,9-billion previously unaccounted for in Randgold & Exploration, which has lodged a claim of R165-million against his estate. A further R150-million claim is expected from JCI, while the SA Revenue Service is looking for R186-million, and other creditors about R30-million.