DURBAN - AMID plans to bring the North Sea Jazz Festival to KwaZulu-Natal, former MEC for Economic Development and Tourism Mike Mabuyakhulu allegedly colluded with his then head of department, Desmond Khalid Golding, to ensure R28million was paid to a business that had no rights to organise the event.
For his role, Mabuyakhulu allegedly received a kickback of R300000.
What happened to the rest is what a case in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court is all about - five years after Durban’s failed endea-
vour to host the festival.
An investigation by the Hawks serious corruption investigation unit has revealed that R368000 was allegedly spent on buying a luxury Mercedes Benz C180 and a further R750 000 on a 2015 Range Rover, and R1m was also allegedly paid to an attorney on “behalf of Golding”.
Mabuyakhulu and Golding now face a raft of corruption, fraud, money laundering and theft charges.
They were arrested and charged this week alongside the following connected business people: Caesar Walter Mkhize, the owner of Soft Skills Communications and Shaka Holdings; his wife Zandile Mkhize, the co-owner of Maqhoboza Traders; Mabheleni Ntuli, the sole member at Super Size Investment; and another husband-and-wife team, Mzwan-
dile and Nonhlanhla Ninela, the owners of Ishinga
Holdings.
All accused were granted bail ranging from R30000 to R50000.
Two other people listed as accused in the indictment, Nothando Zungu also known as “Mamgoh”, and Nontokozo Ndlovu have been asked by police to hand themselves over for arrest.
The following is a summary of the “substantial facts” in the indictment:
The Netherlands-based company Mojo holds the intellectual property rights to North Sea Jazz Festival.
In February 2012, the South African-based company MPM Productions acquired rights to bring North Sea Jazz Festival to South Africa.
In March of that year, MPM Productions was invited by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism to present a proposal to host the festival in Durban.
But before the official presentation took place, Golding and Caesar Mkhize met
representatives of MPM Productions and suggested it
enter a joint venture with Soft Skills Communications which is owned by Mkhize. Golding allegedly advised that the department would not provide funding for the event unless Soft Skills was brought on board.
Although the proposed joint venture was in direct contravention of the Public Finance Management Act and Trea-
sury guidelines, Mabuya-
khulu, who then chaired KwaZulu-Natal’s major events sub-committee, approved the joint venture agreement.
After the agreement was signed in June 2012, Golding instructed that a payment of R969 000 be made to Soft Skills for “activations”, of which according to the indictment, MPM was unaware.
Golding allegedly later instructed that another agreement, excluding MPM, be drafted between the department, Mojo and Soft Skills
for the hosting of the festival in Durban.
Mojo did not approve the agreement and also subsequently cancelled MPM’s licence to host the event in KwaZulu-Natal.
Although Golding was made aware of this - and the fact that the festival would no longer be held in Durban as planned - he allegedly instructed that a further payment of R26886900 be made to Soft Skills.
Within 24 hours, more than R8m was allegedly siphoned out of Softs Skills’ bank account and paid into other accounts of other business entities and individuals who, according to the indictment, “had nothing to do with the North Sea Jazz Festival”.
These payments included R300000 paid to Mabuya-
khulu’s personal bank account using the reference “Ndiyema”, which is his clan name.
The indictment provides a detailed list of transactions that continued to flow out of Soft Skills’ account into bank accounts of the accused and other entities and individuals.
The indictment states that the five main players in Soft Skills money laundering case were Golding, Mkhize, Nothando Zungu, Mabheleni Ntuli and Mabuyakhulu.