PAUL KIRK, Johannesburg | Friday 11.00am.
GOVERNMENT intelligence agencies are probing allegations that Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the minister of home affairs and president of the Inkatha Freedom Party, has been receiving large amounts of cash from illegal casinos.
According to confidential documents compiled by the National Intelligence Agency, Buthelezi has more than R4-million in his personal bank account held at the Ulundi branch of First National Bank. The intelligence reports say the IFP leader has access to “unfeasibly large amounts” of hard cash that “can in no way have emanated from legitimate business interests”.
The documents say the source of this cash is the illegal casino industry in KwaZulu-Natal, and name a Pietermaritzburg casino operator, Joao de Jesus, as being the main funder of the IFP and the conduit of casino money into the IFP’s coffers.
The Mail & Guardian has been informed by an impeccable source within the intelligence community that the NIA has been instructed to conduct two inquiries into Buthelezi. The first is to enquire why so little action has been taken against unlicensed casinos in KwaZulu-Natal. The second is to establish the source of Buthelezi’s personal wealth. The probe also seeks to establish why the process to issue casino licenses in the province has taken so long.
It has long been speculated that former KwaZulu-Natal premier Ben Ngubane was axed because he refused to issue casino permits to IFP supporters. Buthelezi explained that Ngubane was replaced by Lionel Mtshali because the province’s matric results were not up to scratch. Since Mtshali has taken Ngubane’s seat the matric results have worsened.
In KwaZulu-Natal unlicensed casinos operate openly, advertising in newspapers, magazines and the Yellow Pages.
In March this year the M&G reported that Buthelezi banked more than R1-million in cash at the Ulundi First National Bank branch. Buthelezi, who personally counted out the cash from more than R2-million contained in various plastic bags, refused to explain the source of the cash.