PIET RAMPEDI
A legal battle between a businessman who is suing Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale for millions of rand for defamation after his company was blacklisted for alleged poor workmanship has taken another turn.
Risimati Wilson Mkhari has now increased his demand from R100 million to R140m, according to summons against Mathale filed in the Pretoria High Court on February 2.
The summons were filed a few days before the anti-corruption activist’s R10m mansion was set alight early last Sunday.
The incident sent shockwaves across Limpopo’s political and business circles, with the Forum of Limpopo Entrepreneurs and other anti-corruption activists asking who would be next.
Limpopo police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the police’s organised crime unit was investigating a case of arson and malicious damage to property in relation to the burning of Mkhari’s house.
“We are still collecting information. There is no breakthrough and there are no suspects at this stage,” said Mulaudzi.
Asked whether the police believed there was a link between the fire incident and Mkhari’s role as an anti-corruption activist, Mulaudzi responded: “We are not linking anything. That I think you can confirm with McIntosh Polela (the spokesman for the Hawks) because that one is a wider investigation. Ours is to concentrate on this case and make arrests. We do not want to be dragged into politics.”
Yesterday, Polela confirmed that the Hawks were probing the matter, adding that no one had been arrested yet.
He said the Hawks were also not aware of any link, if there was one, between the burning of the house and Mkhari’s role as an anti-corruption activist. “We haven’t identified suspects yet and there is no link that we know of,” said Polela.
Mkhari told The Sunday Independent this week that his family had been traumatised by the incident.
Part of his double-storey mansion in the upmarket suburb of Ster Park in Polokwane was set alight.
The suburb has been dubbed Tender Park because of the perception that most of its residents benefited from government tenders – a nickname Mkhari has dismissed as derogatory.
The fire, which gutted the garage and damaged part of the kitchen, caused an estimated R2.3m worth of damage.
It reduced his three luxury cars to ashes. The Chrysler Voyager SE V6, Chrysler C 5.7 Hemi and a Colt 4x4 V6 double cab are now just soot-covered shells.
“We are all traumatised and I am devastated. It has never happened in our history as a family. We condemn criminal acts. It is uncalled for that people commit a heinous crime against innocent people,” Mkhari said.
“My kids are not coping. The reason my youngest child is here with me now (during the late-night interview) is because he does not feel safe in the house without his dad.”
Mkhari said he was asleep between 1am and 2am when he heard the sound of the alarm of one of his cars.
He woke up and tried to switch the light on, but the electricity connection had been tampered with.
“I then went to open the garage. A few minutes later, the cars caught fire. My cars burnt while I watched, but I couldn’t do anything,” he said.
Debris from tiles, bricks and windows were scattered all over the yard.
The roof had caved in and collapsed on the cars.
National and provincial police top brass, relatives and friends converged on Mkhari’s house to comfort the family last Sunday.
They included former Limpopo ANC secretary Joe Maswanganyi, former Capricorn mayor Molatane Monakedi and businessman Pat Malabela.
Limpopo Hawks head Dibero Molatjana and her lieutenants spent hours behind locked doors with Mkhari on Monday afternoon. It was unclear what was on the agenda.
They had earlier sent a team of officers to guard the house 24 hours a day.
Shiviko Mabunda, secretary of the Forum of Limpopo Entrepreneurs, said they suspected that the incident was related to efforts by Mkhari and others to expose corruption in the province.
“Since Mkhari is one of us, we suspect that these things happened to him because he is also fighting against corruption. And because of this, we are of the view that people’s lives are no longer safe,” Mabunda said.
In December, Mkhari’s lawyers served Mathale and Limpopo Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHTA) MEC Soviet Lekganyane with a letter of demand.
Mkhari accused them of defaming and damaging his reputation and that of his company, the Wilcass Group, when they were blacklisted for non-performance in October 2010.
The ban had been “intended to mean our client is dishonest in that he does not attain performance in his contract”, according to the letter of demand from Mkhari’s lawyer, Walter Niedinger.
The Limpopo Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs Department had named and shamed 50 entities, including the Wilcass Group, saying they had abandoned RDP projects and built shoddy houses.
The companies were then banned from doing business with the government at all levels for up to 10 years.
According to the court papers, Mkhari and his company are now separately demanding R70m for defamation, making the total claim against Mathale and CoGHTA R140m.
Mathale’s spokesman Tebatso Mabitsela confirmed that CoGHTA received the letter of demand.
He said the premier’s office had yet to receive the summons.
A decision on whether or not to defend the matter or settle out of court would be taken only after studying the summons, added Mabitsela.
“The letter of demand (sent to the departmentCoGHTA) is sketchy with information. We will wait for the summons to farmiliarise ourselves with the content and make a determination of the course of action we will take as government,” Mabitsela said.