A plot of land near Hartbeespoort Dam worth just under R500 000 has been ruled a “corrupt benefit” in judgement in a department of energy disciplinary inquiry into department chief director Martin Masemola.
Masemola faced nine charges including fraud, receiving kickbacks, violation of procurement procedure, violations of the Public Finance Management Act, failure to disclose business interests and deleting departmental documents before investigators could retrieve them from his computer.
The presiding officer of the disciplinary hearing found Masemola guilty of six of the nine charges.
Masemola was suspended on March 18 last year after the Mail & Guardian put questions to the department of energy about a preliminary forensic audit report — that detailed allegations against Masemola — was leaked to the newspaper.
Departmental sources told the M&G that the report had been handed to the department in November 2008, and that former director general Sandile Nogxina — currently the director general of the mineral resources department — sat on the report until March.
The most damming of the presiding officer’s findings involves a plot of land in Xanadu Eco Park, which Masemola claims he purchased from his neighbour, Solomon Twala, for R480 000.
However the department’s internal investigation, conducted by attorneys Bowman Gillfillan, alleged that the plot of land was a kickback from Twala, a vendor to Eskom subsidiary Roshcon.
The presiding officer found that Masemola instructed Roshcon to appoint Twala’s company, Mokheso Twala, as a contractor, despite the fact that the move violated Roshcon’s internal procurement procedures.
Roshcon manages projects for the department’s non-grid electrification division, including the electrification of schools in rural areas which are not on the grid.
Masemola failed to prove that he paid for the land, despite his and Twala’s claims that money changed hands.
‘Highly improbable’
“The employee testified that he never anticipated that the person he bought a property from will end up being a contractor,” said the judgement. “It is highly improbable that this contractor just happens to have a property that the employee wishes to purchase and then ends up being appointed as a contractor after the property is acquired by the employee.”
Masemola claimed that he had a bond for R480 000 for the land and that it was up to the department to prove that he did not pay for it.
Twala told the M&G that he had sold the plot because he could not make the payments on it. “I sold a site; I never paid any kickbacks to anybody,” says Twala.
The department’s investigation also uncovered that Masemola had been in a “dire financial circumstance” in 2008 and questioned how he could afford to build a house valued at R2-million on the land.
Lex Legis director Albert Monk, tasked with some of the forensic investigation, testified at the hearing that when he visited the site in June 2009 very little building had taken place, but that when he returned in August 2009 the structure was at roof-height.
Holiday in Bulgaria
Monk also testified that he had found building plans for the house that indicated that the house would cost in excess of R2-million.
“After the appointment of Mokheso Twala as an emerging contractor, the employee’s financial circumstances in 2009 has soared to such an extent that he was able to put up a structure on his property of roof height,” said the judgement. “It was at this time that the employee was also able to afford a holiday to Bulgaria.”
The judgement also provides details about Ntheto Bam the former contracts manager at Roshcon who was fingered as Masemola’s alleged partner in securing kickbacks worth R180 000 from vendors.
Monk testified at the disciplinary hearing that Bam is being investigated by the South African Police Service in connection with charges related to the energy department’s investigation.
‘Bullshit’
Bam claimed to have done nothing wrong, saying the allegations are ‘bullshit”. He also said that the SAPS have not contacted him regarding an investigation.
Masemola is currently back at work, after director general Nelisiwe Magubane allowed him to return before the judgement was handed down in his disciplinary hearing.
When the Mail & Guardian spoke to Masemola some weeks ago, he alleged that there had been an initial cover-up regarding the findings of the investigation at the department.
He alleged that former departmental chief financial officer Sakhi Simelane mandated the law firm Bowman Gilfillan to conduct the preliminary investigation almost three months after he had left the department.
Simelane claimed that he did not mandate the law firm to conduct the investigation and that the mandate was given by the former director-general Sandile Nogxina, currently the DG of the mineral resources department.
The spokesperson for that department, Jeremy Michaels, said this week that the investigation was launched by Simelane with the DG’s authority.
Michaels also dismissed allegations made by Masemola of a cover up in the department and said Nogxina only received the report in mid-January 2009, despite departmental sources confirming that the report arrived at the department in November 2008.
While judgement in the disciplinary hearing has been handed down, no decision has yet been taken on what action will be taken against Masemola.
Bheki Khumalo told the M&G that the DG would act according to the recommendations of the presiding officer once they were finalised.