A company connected to Mpumalanga minister for public works Steve Mabona got a multimillion-rand contract from his department — as did other companies associated with a Mabona relative.
These contracts raise new and substantial conflict-of-interest questions about Mabona, whom the Mail & Guardian last week showed to have received R1-million from another contractor to his department.
Mabona this week refused to respond to M&G questions about the contracts, saying the newspaper can go ahead and “write whatever you want”. He accused the M&G of spreading lies about him.
The M&G has established that Mabona was a director of Miliswa Security Consultants in 2000 when the company tendered for a three-year contract from his department. The contract, worth about R8-million to date, is to provide security services to the Mpumalanga provincial administration.
Mabona resigned as a director of Miliswa after the company tendered, but before the tender was formally awarded. However, his links with the company remain. A key player in Miliswa is one Sonnyboy Mabona, the company’s financial director.
People who know the family claim that Sonnyboy is Mabona’s nephew. Sonnyboy Mabona this week denied being a relative. His closeness to Mabona, however, is apparent from the following:
Sonnyboy Mabona has listed as his residential address a home in Kempton Park, Johannesburg — a property that belongs to Steve Mabona.
Company registration documents show that Sonnyboy Mabona is involved in business with Steve Mabona’s wife, Ntombizodwa Mabona. They are both directors of a company called Khabomabona Communication Network.
Sonnyboy Mabona is listed as a co-director of a company called Phakamani Gaming Investments, together with one Mbhekeni Dlangamandla — who in turn is a business partner of Steve Mabona himself in a communications company called Ja-Vue.
Mabona’s involvement in Miliswa started in 1997, the same year he was forced to resign as provincial minister for safety and security after a scandal involving a fraudulent driver’s licence issued to Baleka Mbete-Kgotsitsile, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
According to the Miliswa share register, Mabona held 33% in the company until December 1999, about 12 months after he was reappointed to the provincial cabinet in the public works portfolio.
Despite selling his shares, Mabona continued to serve as a director of Miliswa. The company tendered for the provincial security contract, administered by Mabona’s department, in mid-2000, provincial records show. Mabona resigned as director in September 2000, the month before the contract was awarded to Miliswa.
That same year, Miliswa appointed Sonnyboy Mabona as executive director responsible for finance. This week Sonnyboy Mabona refused to comment any further .
In terms of the contract, Miliswa has been providing security services not only to Mabona’s own department but also to others, including health and education. It is not clear what the total value of the contract will be over the full three-year term, but the M&G has seen evidence showing about R8-million paid to date. Of that, R459 000 was for services directly to Mabona’s department between May last year and July this year.
Further conflict-of-interest questions are raised by public works contracts benefiting another Mabona relative, Elias Mabona. He is listed as a co-director with Sonnyboy Mabona and Mabona’s business partner Dlangamandla in Phakamani Gaming Investments.
Elias Mabona, a teacher who this week acknowledged being a “distant relative” of Mabona, is also a director of a string of construction companies registered in Mpumalanga.
Elias Mabona this week confirmed that two of his companies, Makhambavele Building Construction and Nomhlekhabo Constructions, had contracts from the Mpumalanga administration, including Mabona’s department. While confirming that he was related to Mabona, he denied they had ever met.