Deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Sunday she was not concerned about public money ending up in ANC coffers during the so-called Oilgate scandal.
It is alleged that empowerment company, Imvume Management, diverted a multimillion-rand advance from the state oil company, Petro SA, for the procurement of oil condensate to the African National Congress, instead of paying it to its own foreign suppliers.
”That’s none of my business. That’s a transaction between Imvume,” she told the South African Broadcasting Corporation in an interview on Sunday.
”I’m concerned about what [state oil company] Petro SA did. What Imvume did I really don’t care.”
As the Minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs at the time of the scandal, Mlambo-Ngcuka said she had a case to answer.
”Yes, absolutely and I would love to answer it,” she said.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said the problem began when Imvume did not pay the advance to its partners.
”Petro SA decided they would give them 30% off the total sum that they were supposed to get, which they were supposed to share with the other partners in their consortium with whom they were delivering the product, which they didn’t and that’s what created problems,” she said.
”As a result Petro SA had to follow up with court action in order to try and recoup the money.
”But had they not paid that advance we would have lost much more, we would have started to go and look for the product all over again, the refinery would have stopped working.”
Mlambo-Ngcuka said the R50 000 given to her brother, Bonga Mlambo, by Imvume Management boss Sandi Majali was payment for consultants in a tourism-related venture.
”They were doing a tourism business together for which Mr Majali owed him money to pay for consultants that had helped them put together a technical document.
”He was owed … he paid him the R50 000 but I didn’t know about their association and I didn’t know what they were doing together in tourism. He’s a 42-year-old man and I don’t know what he does,” she said.
She declined to comment on her husband and former director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka’s relationship with the Jacob Zuma saga.
”I’m not going to crowd my moment with that, so ask me another question,” she said. – Sapa