Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge has denied that she stands to benefit from the construction of the Gautrain.
She was reacting to a report that she, Education Minister Naledi Pandor, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete stood to gain from the Gautrain.
”… I hold no shares in the consortium that is building the high-speed Gautrain … I do not stand to benefit from the Gautrain project in any way,” Madlala-Routledge said on Sunday.
She denied being a shareholder in the Bombela Consortium and said she had ”never been part of Dyambu”, which forms part of Bombela.
Madlala-Routledge said she found the allegations ”particularly disturbing and serious” as they created ”confusion”.
Meanwhile, Mapisa-Nqakula has denied knowledge of Dyambu’s part in the consortium.
Had she been aware of its involvement, she would have recused herself from Cabinet discussions on the project, her spokesperson Mike Ramagoma told the Sunday Times.
The newspaper reported that both she Pandor were at Cabinet meetings where the Gautrain project was discussed and approved despite objections that it would serve an already comfortable middle class.
Pandor denied that her shareholding in Black Management Forum Investments was a conflict of interests, because she was an ordinary shareholder and not involved in decision-making.
Mbete could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) expressed outrage at the claims which, it said, reinforced the belief that there is a culture of self-enrichment among a growing number of ANC and government leaders.
It called on public representatives to choose between public service and a business career.
”You cannot be a representative of the people at the same time as being a capitalist — these roles are inherently contradictory,” said Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven. – Sapa