Leading figures in the Motheo scandal are earning consultancy fees from the controversial company, writes Justin Arenstein
Despite getting their fingers burnt and losing their jobs for bulldozing the R198- million Motheo rural housing deal through Mpumalanga’s housing board, the central figures in the scheme are still doing business with each other.
Sacked Nedcor credit general manager, Kevin Gibb, currently works at least eight hours a day for Motheo through a close corporation called Reeves Enterprises & Tours.
Motheo director Alfons Meyeridricks confirmed that Gibb had begun consulting for the developer almost immediately after leaving Nedcor and told the Mail & Guardian that Gibb did substantial financial and budgetary planning for Motheo, as well as marketing.
He added that Gibb also handled much of Motheo’s negotiations with contractors but stressed that these services had only been paid for by Motheo after Gibb was dismissed from Nedcor.
The first payment to Gibb was made on August 26. Meyeridricks refused to discuss how much Gibb was earning but sources confirm that he receives at least R20 000 a month for his efforts, as well as an unspecified vehicle and travel allowance.
Gibb’s colleague at Nedcor, Granny Seape, is also employed as a consultant by Motheo and has been paid at least R70 000 for her services since resigning from Nedcor just after Gibb was fired in April.
Seape, who played a major role in establishing the concept of rural housing while at Nedcor and who initially canvassed support for the project from local authorities as a Nedcor representative, is also the sister of Motheo majority shareholder, Dr Thandi Ndlovu. Seape stressed during testimony that she had recused herself from these duties after Gibb announced that Ndlovu and Motheo would be the developer.
Ndlovu, Seape and Gibb are all close friends of Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi- Mahanyele. Other indications of the close personal links between the major players include confirmation that Gibb arranged vehicle financing for Mthembi-Mahanyele’s secretary, Bertha Nene, while he was still at Nedcor.
Payment for Seape’s services as a “highly skilled” liaison with local authorities and target communities are currently made through a separate company which is fully owned by Meyeridricks, called Coral Sands Property CC. “Granny was uncomfortable working directly for Motheo because of her sister’s ownership of the company and particularly with all the controversy going on. I don’t see anything sinister in it at all, but she asked me to [pay] her indirectly,” explained Meyeridricks.
Seape’s initial services included setting up Motheo’s offices after the company had signed its R198-million contract with Mpumalanga and recruiting Motheo’s core staff.
Seape is also a partner with Meyeridricks in another, unconnected, development company called Securitised Housing Management (Pty) Ltd. She was paid a R50 000 retainer by Motheo for setting up its offices over two months. Seape said this week that she was consulting through a close corporation, Ahamang CC, of which she is the sole member. She described herself as a “development facilitator” and said that Motheo was one of three large clients she had. She denied involvement in any business ventures with sacked Mpumalanga housing board chief Saths Moodely or Gibb but added that Moodley also consulted for some of the same clients as she did. She declined to name the clients. “This entire Motheo thing has caused me a lot of distress. “
During her testimony before the Mpumalanga commission investigating the deal on Thursday, Seape vehemently denied allegations by Dri-Block chief executive Paul Jewkes that Seape had negotiated for between 25% and 50% shares in a development company which later became Motheo. “I don’t know what Jewkes is talking about. He must have been hallucinating a lot at that time. My only discussions with him, in line with my Nedcor mandate, were how to involve him in low-cost housing. At no stage did we discuss shareholding, either including me or anyone else.”
The only name mentioned other than Ndlovu’s during shareholding discussions, Jewkes said, was that of a woman by the name of Zanele who had been proposed as a director because of her position. Seape denied ever mentioning her name in discussions with Jewkes and also dismissed allegations that the woman was in fact Zanele Mbeki, a prominent banker and the wife of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.
“We are the victims of some political or commercial plot,” said Meyeridricks. “The charges against us keep on changing. First it was nepotism, then not following procedures and not being a registered company. If this whole circus hadn’t blown up, there would be 11 000 families living in new houses today.” – African Eye News Service