ANC NEC member Pule Mabe at the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court, sitting in Palm Ridge, on Wednesday. (Delwyn Verasamy/MG)
The state claims that senior ANC member Pule Mabe’s wife and two of his companies received the spoils of the allegedly fraudulent R27 million paid to supply the Gauteng government with 200 waste-management vehicles.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) further states that catering was the main activity of Enviro Mobi when it received the March 2017 vehicle contract, that it was not qualified to do the work, and that it allegedly only got the tender because of Mabe’s political position.
The tender was issued by Gauteng’s agriculture and rural development department and launched by then-premier David Makhura in September 2017.
In its charge sheet, the state said that although the ANC national executive committee (NEC) member resigned from the company in August 2014, Mabe remained a “signatory and had full control of the [First National Bank] account” belonging to Enviro Mobi.
The charge sheet was submitted to the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court on Wednesday when Mabe, his wife Mmatlhekelo Mabe, and five others made their first appearance on 16 counts of fraud, money laundering and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
The other accused are Loyiso Mkwana, the department’s chief director, Thandeka Mbassa, who was the departmental head from March 2016 to August 2018, Matilda Gasela, who succeeded Mbassa before going on pension this year, and Abdullah Ismail, the department’s chief financial officer from October 2014 to March 2020.
The NPA said Tinyiko Mahuntsi, the sixth accused, became a director of Enviro Mobi in August 2014, but only had co-signing powers in July 2016.
Money flowed from the bank account to Mmatlhekelo Mabe, Rivalox, and Rivalox Properties. Pule Mabe admitted in court that he is a director of the last two companies and receives a monthly salary of R25,000 from them, the NPA added.
The state claims that the “core businesses” of Enviro Mobi, as listed on the state’s central supplier database, and at the time of the March 2017 tender, “was reflected as accommodation and food services activities, food and beverages services activities”.
The NPA added that Mabe’s political influence allegedly contributed to the contract award, and that the ANC NEC member did not disclose his ties to Enviro Mobi during his time as an MP from May 2014 to August 2017.
“Enviro Mobi indicated that it had no affiliation with any governmental official/politician/ member of Parliament. The company also indicated that it had the required expertise and experience for the tender,” reads the charge sheet.
“Enviro Mobi did not have the necessary technical expertise and experience to be awarded [the] tender,” it added.
The main contention of the NPA’s case, as detailed in its charge sheet, is the roughly R27.5 million prepayments the provincial department made to Enviro Mobi — payments that the accused did not dispute — for what the state claimed was a breach of contract and money for work not done.
According to the charge sheet, the contract stated that Enviro Mobi would be paid “after the completion, review, and approval of each deliverable received from [the] service provider”.
“The invoice must detail activities performed,” it reads.
It added that, in March 2017, Enviro Mobi submitted its first invoice a day after the tender was awarded for “fleet acquisition” for more than R16.4 million, invoicing two more times in September and November of the same year for a combined nearly R11 million.
All accused, who are expected back in court next March, were released on R30 000 bail each and indicated that they would plead not guilty should the matter make it to trial.