Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, has filed a court application to set aside a R5 billion Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) job creation project.
Nxesi, who was accused alongside two other Cabinet ministers, as well as ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, of attempting to solicit a bribe of R500 million from the UIF’s now failed R5 billion job creation scheme by Thuja Capital CEO, Mthunzi Mdwaba, has spoken out publicly for the first time since these allegations surfaced three weeks ago.
Mdwaba had accused three ministers, Nxesi; Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande; and, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana; of extortion claims which have been rejected by all those accused, separately.
Mdwaba indicated that he had refused to pay the alleged bribe, which involved an agreement that was signed in December 2022 by former director-general of the Department of Employment and Labour, Thobile Lamati.
The project was meant to assist the UIF in creating employment at an initial aggregating cost of R5 billion.
Today (Thursday), during a media briefing, Nxesi revealed that in January 2023, acting director-general, Mzie Yawa, informed Mdwaba that the agreement was unlawful as the project had to be first approved by the labour and finance ministers.
“I heard of this agreement only through media reports. The media raised several concerns about the process followed and the capacity of Thuja to deliver on the signed agreement.
“Following initial probing, I established that approvals by the UIF governance processes, including the interim Labour Activation Programme National Adjudication Committee, were not obtained and consequently instructed the accounting officer, in January 2023, to suspend the implementation of the project, and to stop any contemplated payments to Thuja.
“Today, acting as the Executive Authority of DEL, I signed my affidavit, and we are filing a court application to set this agreement aside.”
The minister also “categorically denied” the allegations against him and other ministers.
“Let me be clear, I categorically deny, the recent allegations of corruption. You must ask why Mdwaba waited nearly a year to come up with these allegations. Mdwaba will now have to prove these allegations in a court of law,” the minister said.
Nxesi described Thuja Capital CEO as a bitter and vindictive individual who has used his bitterness to tarnish his image.
“The source of Mdwaba’s bitterness, towards me dates back to his failed attempts to secure the position of director-general of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). When government withdraw its support for his candidature after it emerged that he failed to disclose that the South African courts had declared him to be a delinquent director of companies.
“Government was also made aware of the court judgment in the Western Cape which had found that Mdwaba is a law breaker and was not an honest witness and lacked the elementary attributes of good leadership, for the position he held as chairperson of the University of the Western Cape Council.
“In the circumstances, continued support for Mdwaba’s candidature would entail serious reputational risk for South Africa,” he said.
Mdwaba had promised to address the matter today (Thursday) to counter the minister’s denial, but he had not done so at the time of going to print.
The Star