The intricate investigation details how Howard Mashaba’s elderly parents have become economically ostracised after their son used their names to open businesses which got into trouble over unpaid debts and a string of purportedly fraudulent acts. Graphic: John McCann
Howard Mashaba, the convicted criminal that the state failed to arrest in a fraud case involving the sale of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, faces a fresh Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into corruption involving R34 million in National Lotteries Commission funds.
The intricate investigation details how Mashaba’s elderly parents have become economically ostracised after their son used their names to open businesses which got into trouble over unpaid debts and a string of purportedly fraudulent acts.
Allegations are that Mashaba received money from the commission to organise music festivals but instead funnelled the funds to dozens of relatives, friends and firms linked to him, including a bus company.
During a 24 February presentation to parliament’s trade and industry portfolio committee, the SIU said its National Lotteries Commission (NLC) probe was part of the R1.4 billion that the entity and the state “have allegedly lost due to corruption at the organisation”.
The unit’s investigation followed a 2020 proclamation by President Cyril Ramaphosa that a probe would be instituted into “allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of NLC … and to recover any financial losses suffered by the state”.
The SIU said actress Terry Pheto, who was part of the cast in the Oscar-winning South African movie Tsotsi, illegally received more than R3 million from the lotteries commission through two companies of which she is a director.
In the Mashaba matter, internal reports the Mail & Guardian has seen stated that he spent more than R34.4 million, over 426 transactions, in nearly three years in allegedly ill-gotten funds from the commission. This was done through companies that investigators have found to be under the convicted criminal’s control, although he is not a director of many of them.
Internal notes show that the funds were diverted from cultural projects in Limpopo — including the failed Fill Up Peter Mokaba Stadium music festival in April 2019 — to companies, family members and associates from 2016 to 2019.
The NLC was established in April 1999 to regulate all lotteries and sports pools in the country, while also acting as a grant provider to give “registered non-profit organisations with funding to establish projects that improve the lives of everyday South Africans”, according to its promotional material.
An April 2019 Timeslive report claimed that the music festival attracted fewer than 100 people to the Limpopo stadium, which was built for the 2010 Fifa World Cup and has a seating capacity of more than 40 000.
The precursor to the festival was the September 2018 Giyani Fill Up the Stadium concert. Mashaba was introduced as the event manager in a recorded public briefing a month before the gathering.
Both events had renowned Xitsonga artists, including Benny Mayengani, billed to perform as part of celebrating and promoting a language that ranks eighth out of the country’s 12 official languages by number of speakers.
In a recent statement, the NLC reiterated its “continuous co-operation with the investigation since its inception in 2020”.
“The commission is confident of its internal processes to ensure fair and equitable funding and this has been evidenced by the outcomes of external audits conducted in recent years,” it said.
The investigative reports compiled to look into Mashaba’s suspected crimes showed how he used people close to him — including his wife; parents; in-laws and other members of his family; an alleged girlfriend and friends — by opening companies in their names.
Law enforcement agencies claim Mashaba controls the income of those businesses, which have reportedly led to members of his family being blacklisted because of debts racked up by the firms and dubious transactions done in their names.
In what appears to be a giveaway of his game plan, many of the companies believed to have received illicit funds bear Mashaba’s names in their titles.
For example, Rishongile Howard Holdings has Mashaba’s first name, with a background check revealing the company was undergoing de-registration. It had as its sole director Khensani Nyango, a popular Munghana Lonene FM presenter. The station is owned by the SABC.
Several well-placed sources told the M&G that, on Monday, the SIU contacted the public broadcaster’s human resources department in Limpopo as part of its investigation into Nyango, whose company, Rishongile, appears 18 times in reports detailing the alleged laundering of state money.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the unit would not comment on the Mashaba-Nyango investigation, adding: “We can only communicate the outcomes [of the probe] as and when we are done with that part of the investigation.”
This week, when the M&G spoke to Nyango over the phone, she asked for questions related to the SIU’s probe to be sent to her via text.
Nyango had not responded by the time of publication.
Mashaba’s 72-year-old father is the sole director of Mbangwa Howard Trading and Projects, from which his son resigned on 8 October 2010 — the day the company was registered, an M&G background check revealed.
Mbangwa Howard Trading has 49 mentions in internal notes for allegedly receiving corrupt money.
One investigator stated that Mashaba’s father, whose name is known to the M&G but will remain protected, was “blacklisted” after his son took buses for a transport business without paying the creditor.
“Mashaba even uses his father’s name. His in-laws and parents, who are pensioners, are now blacklisted because of him,” said the investigator, who asked to remain anonymous.
An M&G search on another company that appears in the investigative documents, Xilumani Holdings and Projects, shows Mashaba’s alleged girlfriend, who works for the Limpopo government, as a resigned director.
Her name is known to the M&G but will not be disclosed at this stage.
Mashaba was convicted in July 2019 on a contempt charge for defying a court order to pay Mercedes-Benz South Africa about R22 million which was owed by his Xilumani transport business.
Despite being aware of his latest criminal conviction, the National Prosecuting Authority allowed Mashaba to walk free in October 2019 when it did not oppose his bail during a hearing in a separate case where he was accused of concealing previous convictions.
This week, Mashaba appeared in the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court, sitting in Palm Ridge, for the judgment on whether he deliberately withheld past convictions during his May 2019 bail application after being charged with defrauding Absa by getting a home loan with alleged forged documents.
This week’s judgment was postponed to Monday. Mashaba did not respond to questions sent to him through his attorney this week.
Howard Mashaba, the convicted criminal that the state failed to arrest in a Mercedes Benz fraud case, faces a fresh Special Investigation Unit (SIU) probe into R34 million in National Lotteries Commission corruption.
The intricate investigation details how Mashaba’s elderly parents have become economically ostracised after their son used their names to open up businesses that became embroiled in unpaid debts and a string of alleged fraudulent acts.
Allegations are that Mashaba received money from the commission to undertake music festivals, but subsequently funnelled the funds to dozens of relatives, friends and companies linked to him, including a bus transportation company.
During a 24 February presentation to parliament’s trade and industry portfolio committee, the SIU said its National Lotteries Commission (NLC) probe was part of the R1.4 billion that the entity and the state “have allegedly lost due to corruption at the organisation”.
The unit’s investigation followed a 2020 proclamation by President Cyril Ramaphosa for a probe into “allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of NLC…and to recover any financial losses suffered by the state”.
The SIU said actress Terry Pheto, who was part of the cast in the Oscar-winning South African movie Tsotsi, illegally received more than R3 million from the lotteries commission through two companies that she is a director of.
In the Mashaba matter, internal reports the Mail & Guardian has seen stated that he — through companies that investigators have found to be under the convicted criminal’s control, although he is not a director in many of them — spent more than R34.4 million over 426 transactions in nearly three years from allegedly ill-gotten funds from the commission.
Internal notes show that the funds were diverted from cultural projects in Limpopo — including the failed Fill Up Peter Mokaba Stadium music festival in April 2019 — to companies, family members and associates from 2016 to 2019.