It’s a prime plot on a hill in an exclusive Gauteng residential estate – and its ownership is carefully hidden.
The plot in the Meyersdal Nature Estate, Alberton, in Ekurhuleni, was bought for the benefit of Deputy Minister of Economic Development Enoch Godongwana and his family.
Godongwana has not declared this benefit to Parliament, but told The Star this was not required.
The plot is owned by the Tyalibongo Trust, which was set up in April last year.
The month after it was set up, the trust bought the plot for R1.9 million. No bond is registered against it in the deeds office records.
Godongwana is not a trustee of the Tyalibongo Trust, but he is listed on the trust documents as both the donor and a beneficiary. His wife Thandiwe and their children are also listed as beneficiaries of the trust.
That means that although he is not the direct owner of the plot, he and his family have exclusive use of it and it was bought with his money.
No house has yet been built on the plot and there is a R5 000-a-month penalty on it until a house is completed.
Neighbours have built double-storey mansions, and completed properties sell for millions.
Around the carefully guarded estate roam buck, zebra, giraffe and wildebeest.
Godongwana has not declared this piece of land or his benefit from it in Parliament’s Register of Members’ Interests but said he did not have to do so.
“A trust is an independent thing. There is no requirement for a disclosure of the assets of the trust,” Godongwana told The Star.
“If that trust gives me money, then I disclose that.”
Godongwana said the Tyalibongo Trust had been set up because files from a previous trust, the Hala Family Trust, had been lost by the Master’s Office in the Eastern Cape.
He produced correspondence from lawyers describing the unsuccessful search for the Hala file.
“The Trust was established not to hide interests,” said Godongwana.
“We wanted to use the Hala Trust, but the file has disappeared in King William’s Town. We therefore established a new trust. There is nothing wrong in doing so.”
Godongwana said only Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests could question him about this.
Earlier this month, Parliament announced that the updated register for 2011 had been adopted.
In the register, Godongwana records his ownership of a house in East London. No other property is listed.
Under “benefits” he has noted “nothing to disclose”.
The ethics committee did not respond to a request for comment.
Godongwana has been an MP since 2008 and a deputy minister of various ministries since May 2009. He served in the Eastern Cape government from 1994.
He fell out of favour and was fired as an MEC in 2004, but remained an MPL. He has been a member of the ANC’s national executive committee since December 2007.
In October, the DA complained that Godongwana had violated the executive ethics code by declaring his interests in Canyon Springs Investments 12 only in the confidential section of the register of members’ interests.
“The executive ethics code states that all members of the executive must disclose all their financial interests publicly. It is only the financial interests of spouses that can legitimately be recorded in the confidential section,” DA MP Kobus Marais said at the time.
“The evidence is mounting that the deputy minister has attempted to conceal his involvement in Canyon Springs – the company that funnelled 20 000 textile workers’ pension funds into businesses connected to ANC politicians.
“ANC politicians stealing workers’ money to finance their own companies is a scandal of the highest magnitude. The closed liquidation inquiry which is currently under way should reveal where the money went, who benefited from it and whether the money is recoverable,” Marais said.
He has asked the Public Protector to investigate. -The Star