Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe and his wife were treated to two exclusive United Kingdom sporting events by Deutsche Bank, which was contracted to his department at the time.
Radebe, through his spokesperson, this week said he was not aware that the gifts had come from Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche, through its local head, Martin Kingston, gave the Radebes tickets to the prestigious Wimbledon 2002 women’s final between Serena and Venus Williams, and to the Silverstone Grand Prix that same year. Wimbledon final tickets this year sell for comfortably more than R10 000 each. Silverstone tickets can cost up to about R5 000.
Radebe declared the gifts and Kingston as their donor, but not their value, in the parliamentary register of interests last year.
Although he declared, Radebe may be considered guilty of a serious conflict of interest and breach of the Executive Ethics Code, which regulates the conduct of members of the Cabinet.
The code states that ministers may not accept gifts — even before they declare them in the parliamentary register — when they:
- are from a donor where the donor has received a benefit from the minister in the minister’s official capacity;
- constitute improper influence on the minister;
- constitute an attempt to influence the minister in the performance of his or her duties.
The code also states that if a minister is offered a gift valued at more than R1 000 and wishes to keep the gift, the minister must get permission from the president.
Failure to obtain permission obliges the minister to return or decline the gift or to donate the gift to the state.
When asked in writing whether Radebe had obtained permission from the president, Radebe’s spokesperson, Miranda Strydom, this week responded: ”The invitation was extended to the minister in his personal capacity.”
From this response it appears that Radebe did not obtain the president’s permission.
Should Radebe and his wife, Bridgette, have accepted benefits from Deutsche in any capacity, considering that Deutsche, as departmental service-provider, was subject to the minister’s political oversight?
Adrienne Carlisle, advocacy head at Rhodes University’s Public Service Accountability Monitor, said: ”On the face of it, it was inappropriate for the minister to have accepted those gifts.”
Carlisle said it appeared the executive code had been breached.
Radebe declared the gifts in the parliamentary register as coming from Kingston. When asked why the gifts were declared in this manner — citing Kingston and not Deutsche Bank — Strydom said Radebe had not been aware that the gifts were from Deutsche.
”At the time, no mention was made that this was an official invitation from Deutsche Bank,” she said.
Kingston confirmed to the Mail & Guardian this week that Deutsche had paid for Radebe’s Wimbledon and Silverton tickets.
He said the company invited Radebe as part of its ”corporate hospitality” — a version which clashes with Radebe’s account of it having been a gift in his ”personal capacity”.
Asked why Deutsche Bank had extended gifts to Radebe, Kingston said: ”Mr Radebe is a minister in government and we have a relationship with the government.”
He said, however, that he did not view these as gifts. ”I would not call that a gift. A gift is an object that can be taken away.”
At the time, Deutsche participated in two known lucrative deals — worth perhaps hundreds of millions of rands — involving Radebe’s department.
Deutsche acted as adviser to Radebe’s department on the government’s landmark Telkom initial public offering (IPO), worth R6-billion.
Deutsche also acted as adviser to Denel, the state defence company, in a R375-million acquisition deal with UK defence company BAe Systems.
BAe was to have bought into Denel, but the deal collapsed last year.
Radebe is the government minister responsible for state-owned companies, including Denel.
Strydom said Radebe was invited to Wimbledon and Silverton while the minister was on government business in London relating to the Denel/BAe transaction. She also said it appeared that Radebe had not used the Silverton tickets.
The Telkom IPO was the first privatisation by listing after the end of apartheid in 1994 and was the flagship of the government’s restructuring programme.
Deutsche, along with JP Morgan, were joint global coordinators and bookrunners on the Telkom IPO.
The transaction incorporated the biggest retail offering ever conducted in Africa, with more than 100 000 retail investors — many of them previously disadvantaged — embracing equity ownership for the first time.
Deutsche and JP Morgan beat other big companies such as Merrill Lynch International, Credit Suisse First Boston, and HSBC Investment Services to secure the deal.