Malema co-accused ‘is broke’

Business associates (from left) Kagiso Dichabe, Lesiba Gwangwa and Makgetsi Manthatha of axed ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema appear in the Polokwane Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, 25 September 2012. The State alleges the four misrepresented themselves to the Limpopo department of roads and transport, and a R52 million contract was awarded to one of the accused. They were granted bail of R40, 000 each. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Business associates (from left) Kagiso Dichabe, Lesiba Gwangwa and Makgetsi Manthatha of axed ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema appear in the Polokwane Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, 25 September 2012. The State alleges the four misrepresented themselves to the Limpopo department of roads and transport, and a R52 million contract was awarded to one of the accused. They were granted bail of R40, 000 each. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Published Oct 1, 2012

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Johannesburg - Julius Malema’s business confidante Lesiba Gwangwa is broke and has given Sars his assets as a guarantee for his unpaid taxes worth millions of rand.

According to sources, Gwangwa offered his luxury properties and assets after the taxman reportedly obtained a tax evasion judgment against him and Malema to the tune of more than R16 million last month.

A businessman and a civil servant who are privy to the Hawks and Sars investigations told The Star that more charges could be added against people who appeared in the Polokwane Regional Court last week.

Gwangwa, Malema, Selby Manthata, his wife, Helen Moreroa, Manthata’s brother Makgesti and Kagisho Dichabe are facing charges ranging from fraud and corruption to money laundering. They appeared in connection with On-Point’s project management unit (PMU) contract.

Gwangwa’s woes came as the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit prepared to attach the accuseds’ assets.

An anti-Mathale businessman, who was interviewed by the Hawks recently, said they told him Gwangwa had also offered his assets to Sars.

Gwangwa and Malema own a string of luxury properties in Limpopo, Gauteng and Cape Town - worth millions of rand - through their companies such as On-Point and Gwama Properties.

“Lesiba Gwangwa is broke and has given all his assets to Sars as a guarantee, and the Assets Forfeiture Unit will attach all assets of the accused,” he said.

Marothi Ledwaba, spokesman for Gwangwa and Malema, said he was not aware of any move to attach his clients’ goods. He promised to comment after speaking to them.

Sources said the Hawks had intensified their investigations into alleged tender corruption in Limpopo.

A pro-Mathale businessman added that the Hawks had also questioned Mopani ANC regional secretary Bricks Manzini about his assets and source of income.

Manzini denied this, saying, “if they want me, it means they are still on their way. People have been saying that the Hawks are looking for me, but no one has come here since this thing started”.

Gwangwa’s troubles came as The Star’s sister paper, The Sunday Independent, reported on Sunday that Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, who is Manthata’s business partner, could be arrested soon.

This was because his name had been dragged into questionable transactions in the provincial departments of roads, health and education.

Mathale and Manthata are co-directors in Emerald Sky Trading 18.

Their wives - Mokgadi Dolly Kgohloane and Moreroa - are also business partners in mining firm Blue Platinum Ventures 16, Mbhoma Furniture Manufactures and Mogoboya Investments.

NPA spokeswoman Bulela Makeke denied allegations by Mathale’s allies that her organisation’s failure to charge Mathale alongside Manthata showed it intended to use the latter’s case to “test the waters” against the former.

“Obviously whether people are charged depends on the information the organisation has, not who is related to who. We can’t be working on the basis of their expectations,” Makeke said.

Despite repeated denials by the Hawks and the NPA that they were eying Mathale, various sources insisted they were aware of the premier’s possible arrest.

Mathale supporters reiterated their accusation that the Hawks and NPA were trying to find Mathale guilty by “extension”; the same way President Jacob Zuma was found guilty in the court of public opinion after his former financial advisor Schabir Shaik’s conviction in 2005.

A pro-Mathale Limpopo businessman, who believed Malema was the “big fish” targeted by the Hawks and the NPA, said Manthata and others were just “sacrificial lambs”. He said this was confirmed by the Hawks’ failure to charge the head of the Limpopo Department of Roads and Transport, Ntau Letebele, whose role in the awarding of the On-Point contract was criticised by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report.

“They said they would charge Pinky Kekana [former Limpopo roads MEC] and Ntau, but they didn’t. The NPA is just a political tool,” he insisted.

An ally of Mathale and Malema added: “Obviously there were 12 names, but now some have not been charged. We are told there were the names of senior politicians. I am told they targeted Pinky, and Mathale’s name and that of his wife were there.”

Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said his comment in The Sunday Independent “still hasn’t changed”.

Asked whether the Hawks were trying to use Manthata’s case to nail Mathale, Polela had told the weekly that “we take our work seriously. We are not in the business of testing the waters… We refuse to be drawn into commenting on opinions about the premier or anyone else”.

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The Star

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