Opposition parties have urged Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana to reopen his investigation into aspects of the Oilgate scandal.
Democratic Alliance spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt said on Monday he has written to Mushwana asking him to reinvestigate the R65 000 loan made by oil company Imvume Management’s Sandi Majali to the wife of Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya.
The loan was part of the protector’s original investigation into the scandal.
”In light of new information, which appeared in this weekend’s press, the DA believes the public protector has a duty to reopen his investigation,” Schmidt said.
In an earlier statement, the Freedom Front Plus’s Willie Spies said cracks are ”beginning to appear in the once united facade of innocence built by government and Imvume Management about the Oilgate matter”.
In July last year, Mushwana had brushed off alleged conflict-of-interest charges against Skweyiya, saying there was no substantive allegation or indication that Skweyiya performed any action or omission that could have favoured Majali or Imvume.
”The FF+ approached the public protector again earlier this month to investigate the business relationship between the Deputy President [Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka] and the Skweyiya family when it became known that the deputy president took Skweyiya’s wife [Thuthukile Mazibuko-Skweyiya] with her on her R700 000 trip to the United Arab Emirates.”
Majali and Imvume are also taking the FF+ and two of its MPs to court for disclosing to Parliament the alleged irregular payments to Mazibuko-Skweyiya, as well as to the brother of the deputy president, Bonga Mlambo.
The matter will be heard in the Johannesburg High Court soon, Spies said.
The Sunday Times reported at the weekend Majali is suing Skweyiya for R149-million.
Majali was to have received a contract to dispense social grants on behalf of the government. His consortium was sent a letter stating that his IT company IT Lynx Consortium was the Department of Social Development Department’s first choice for the R500-million contract.
However, the department pulled out of the deal after intervention from the National Treasury, which thought it too costly.
The contract dispute took place just months after Majali paid R65 000 for renovations to Skweyiya’s home and offered Skweyiya’s wife a job at Imvume, another of his companies.
Imvume has since claimed that the money was a loan that had been repaid.
Majali’s lawyer, Barry Aaron, confirmed on Friday that his client is pursuing legal action against Skweyiya and the State Information Technology Agency, which administered the tender process on behalf of Skweyiya’s department. — Sapa