‘He petitioned the President to get rid of Lindiwe Sisulu. It was an induced political action to ensure the new Minister would ignore the report on corruption that fingers Siyasanga Mabuyane’.
KARABO NGOEPE AND TSHEPISO TSHABALALA
EMBATTLED Eastern Cape Premier, Oscar Mabuyane, allegedly petitioned President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove Lindiwe Sisulu as Minister of Water and Sanitation in an apparent bid to shield his wife, Siyasanga Mabuyane, who had business interests in the Amatola Water Board.
The Sunday Independent has reliably learned that Mabuyane allegedly used his support for Ramaphosa at the 2017 Nasrec ANC elective conference, to convince the president, to change leadership at the ministry, to ensure reports implicating his wife at the Amatolo Water Board do not surface.
The source speaking on condition of anonymity, said at Mabuyane’s request, another Ramaphosa ally, Senzo Mchunu, who was also pressuring the president to remove Sisulu, took over the reins and started with the redeployment of the senior managers she (Sisulu) had suspended, back into their positions.
"Mabuyane's interest is due to his wife having benefited from Amatolo with eight companies. When the Minister evoked the Water Act and called for an investigation into how Amatolo Water Board was using its budget for Covid-19 and the R231 million drought budget, things became difficult on that side," said the source.
According to staff members at the Amatolo Water Board, the modus operandi used to access funds was to appoint companies they knew would not be doing work, but were nevertheless registered in the database.
"When they come back to say they don't have the capacity, the CEO and supply chain manager would tell them not to cancel the contract, but they would recommend the subcontractors that could do the work. Those companies belonged to the wife of Mr Mabuyane," the source alleged.
While the investigations were under way, the workers said Mabuyane became jittery and called for political favour to quash the investigation.
"He petitioned the President to get rid of Sisulu. It was an induced political action to ensure the new Minister would ignore the report on corruption," the source added.
Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, refused to respond to questions sent to him regarding the allegations. "The Presidency has no comment on these matters.“
Upon assuming office, Mchunu is said to have "made every excuse under the sun" to avoid a handover from Sisulu. At least two sources have also spoken about how Mchunu has refused to have a handover from Sisulu, to this day, but Mchunu vehemently denies that he thwarted a handover.
"There was never a handover from Minister Sisulu to Minister Mchunu. He has been snubbing the Minister and had his agenda from day one. Instead, he opted for a meeting with Oscar Mabuyane at the Premier Hotel. He started organising meetings before he was announced as the Minister," said the source.
Mchunu, this week, denied the allegation, insisting there was a handover meeting that was held virtually. He added that he also received 'files' from Sisulu.
"We had about 40 to 45 minutes in a virtual meeting with Comrade Lindiwe, it was not a prayer or a conversation. It was a handover report from her. I think she spoke; I would say 95% of the time. And then I was listening. I think I came in at the end. But I came in when there were one or two things. She had already handed over three or four files, grey in colour, which was a handover. I would not know what anyone is talking about when they say I refused," Mchunu said.
On the assertion that he opted to meet with Mabuyane, Mchunu said refusing to receive a handover and opting for a meeting are two different stories.
"If they are there, I don't even know what they meant by opting out or whatever. But what I'm saying to you is what is recorded, and it is known to me and my staff, known to Comrade Lindiwe and her staff because it was a scheduled meeting. I think it was in the morning," said Mchunu.
Among the reports that are allegedly being suppressed is a seven-page document that has been seen by the Sunday Independent detailing the conflict of interest among the officials of Amatolo Water Board. It includes information on the companies belonging to Siyasanga Mabuyane, the premier's wife.
According to the report, she is a director in the following companies:
Salinga Investments;
Jazz Spirit 1348;
Enjoy Guest House;
Fast Pace Trade and Invest 5;
Newport Construction;
Ndungwane Trading;
Xenops Trading 20;
New Born Trading 530
The report states that none of those companies were directly appointed by Amatola Water Board regarding the water contracts, but they were brought in as subcontractors to companies that also have links to the Siyasanga.
Mabuyane and Siyasanga had not responded to questions sent to them by the time of publication. Instead our questions were circulated on social media and the journalists received calls from unknown callers demanding to know, if indeed, he sent questions to the premier.
Sisulu also declined to comment on the matter.
Mchunu further denied reversing the decisions taken by his predecessor to protect Mabuyane and his wife. He said, with regards to the reinstatement of the officials who had been dismissed, he acted on legal advice.
Mchunu reinstated Buhle Tonise as Deputy Chairperson and Abraham le Roux and Tabisa Wana as board members. Sisulu had fired them, following a report which found that they were guilty of misconduct.
"I received the report from the board during a full sitting. One of the board members who was removed had taken the matter to court. I was advised by legal services and my Special Adviser, who is an advocate and a long serving member in the public sector.
“Legal Services of the department and my own Special Adviser is saying you have no leg, not one leg, to contest this matter in court. They gave me their reasons. The most decent thing to do is not to waste the money of the state. You do the right thing. You reinstate the person. If you reinstate the person, What do you do with another one that was removed for the same reasons? You reinstate them, it is common sense," he said.
Samwu in the region has also criticised that decision to reinstate the officials.
Regional Secretary, Luthando Juju, said they were astonished by Mchunu's decision to re-appoint the board members.
He added that their suspicion was that Mchunu's decision was politically motivated to shield certain 'powerful' individuals.
Mchunu vehemently denied that he was deployed to the department to shield certain people and find dirt on Sisulu to serve the factional battles in the ANC.
He said he was aware of allegations levelled against Mabuyane's wife, and he would wait for the Public Protector to conclude the investigation into the matter.
"I'm aware that the Public Protector is dealing with that matter. It will be helpful once the Public Protector has done their job to ask for the report. We'll go through (it) and take whatever action. I also know that SIU and the Hawks are busy with a number of matters of the Amatola water board," Mchunu said.
He said it was not the first time he occupied an executive position, and he would never go on a crusade to reverse predecessors' decisions.
"Firstly, I started as a MEC for Education in KZN, and there was a predecessor there. I then followed with being a premier, and there was a predecessor there. I have no record of doing that. I don't have an interest in it," he said.
Mchunu further used the R3 billion Giyani Bulk Water project as an example. He said, when the people of Giyani tell you in their report that you have R3 billion in terms of what was done in water pipes to supply water to 55 villages, but only two are connected, you have to look at what went wrong.
"That's not an investigation on your colleague, you have to look at why the other 53 are not getting water when R 3.1 billion has already been spent. If you don't check what happened and how to rectify it, then something is wrong," he said.