State Security Deputy Minister Zizi Kodwa insists ANC veteran Tokyo Sexwale has been scammed.
Sexwale made shocking revelations this week when he gave a detailed account of his reasons to open a criminal case with the Hawks against undisclosed individuals linked to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) who allegedly stole billions of rand of donor funds belonging to an unknown oligarch reportedly based in Singapore.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) governor Lesetja Kganyago said such funds don’t exist, saying he was scammed.
Kodwa said on Saturday that although both the institutions had refuted the claims, Sexwale was continuing to make the allegations.
“The network of scammers and peddlers is to compromise the leadership of a country. Attacking institutions like Treasury and the Reserve Bank is to create doubt within the community,” said Kodwa.
Sexwale has claimed a mysterious benefactor called ’’The White Boy Spiritual Trust Fund’’ was keen to invest billions of rand into South Africa to benefit the poor, students and various projects in the country. Sexwale said some of the funds have been stolen.
“I was shocked by these revelations of unfounded and wild allegations made by Sexwale. It is most likely that Sexwale’s utterances and actions are due to his exposure to a very sophisticated network of scammers; it is possible he might have become an instrument in the hands of this grouping,” said Kodwa.
Kodwa said a few years ago between 2013 and 2016, the security agency had investigated a number of 419 scams, the most convincing of which was called ’’Metro Grant Holdings’’, which wanted to do business with the South African government. After investigations, both Treasury and the Reserve Bank refused, but it continued to make false claims that there was money in the bank.
“This is why today they accuse former president Jacob Zuma of knowing because their operation modus operandi is the same – they want to have meetings with the leadership of the country, therefore they alleged the leadership of the country is part of their network,” said Kodwa.
“The timing of these utterances in the context of #FeesMustFall and Covid-19 challenges gives and impression of a leadership in government that is refusing to allow a certain anonymous funder who can make our problem disappear in one minute because he owns billions or trillions. He gives an impression of social instability; it creates false hope for our people,” said Kodwa,
He said he had not personally reached out to Sexwale but was aware of some prominent ANC members who had reached out to him in their individual capacity outside of the national executive committee.
Political Bureau