Gauteng Education MEC Chiloane implicated in Pule Mabe’s R27 million fraud case:
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane, according to a National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) information note, received R185 000 from the R27 million vehicles tender that ANC senior member Pule Mabe is facing fraud charges.
Chiloane has denied any involvement in the matter or that he is being investigated.
The NPA note, which the Mail & Guardian has seen, stated that Chiloane was expected to be the ninth accused in the combined 16 counts of fraud, money laundering and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act that Mabe and six others were charged with on 16 October.
The MEC’s alleged crimes, the detailed state document added, stem from his time as the City of Ekurhuleni’s infrastructure and transformation cluster coordinator — a position he apparently resigned from in 2017.
The city was one of the beneficiaries of the March 2017 contract from the Gauteng agriculture and rural development department to supply it with 200 waste-management three-wheel vehicles to boost small and medium business participation in the sector, with Ekurhuleni ordering 70 in July 2017.
Last Wednesday, Mabe, his wife Mmatlhekelo Mabe, Loyiso Mkwana, the agriculture and rural development department’s chief director, Thandeka Mbassa, who was the departmental head from March 2016 to August 2018, Matilda Gasela, who succeeded Mbassa before going on pension this year, and Abdullah Ismail, the department’s chief financial officer from October 2014 to March 2020, made their first appearances in the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court.
Also on Wednesday, the NPA added that Tinyiko Mahuntsi, the sixth accused, was the director of Enviro Mobi when it was awarded the tender.
However, the state claims that Pule Mabe maintained signing powers of Enviro Mobi’s First National Bank account after he had resigned as a director in August 2014, with Mahuntsi only receiving co-control of the account in July 2016.
It was from this account that Mabe allegedly doled out more than R15 million to his wife, family members and two of his companies, Rivalox and Rivalox Properties.
The internal NPA document claimed that it was from Rivalox Properties, which it stated Mabe was the sole director of, where the education MEC received the alleged R185 000.
“The payments were made in 10 instalments. The payments were made into his [Chiloane’s] personal bank account held at First National Bank,” the internal note read.
However, the MEC denied that he was being investigated, saying he had “never received any funds from Mr Mabe at all”, and adding that he was “just a youth coordinator” in Ekurhuleni’s mayoral office.
He added that he was not involved in the purchase of the 70 waste-management vehicles the city procured from Enviro Mobi.
“My advice; ask the political leaders of the time — they can give you answers. As for me, I don’t know anything,” Chiloane stressed.
“No one called me and I am certain [that] I am not [being] investigated. Secondly, I [have] never received any money ever from Mr Mabe in my entire life,” he added.
The NPA did not respond to detailed questions the M&G sent related to information contained in its internal documents, including the dates and figures of when and how Chiloane allegedly received the funds.
However, the prosecuting authority’s Gauteng spokesperson, Phindi Mjonondwane, said: “The case docket presented to the NPA was in respect of all accused that are before [the] court. The NPA does not investigate nor arrest.”
Mabe and his co-accused, during their first appearance, also stressed their innocence and that they would plead not guilty, with the ANC’s former national spokesperson calling the charges against him “meritless and without substance”.
“I will not be found guilty of any charges preferred against me. I did nothing wrong and cannot conceive of any evidence that can be brought against me,” he asserted.
The main contention of the NPA’s case, as detailed in its charge sheet, is the roughly R27.5 million prepayments the provincial department made to Enviro Mobi — payments that the accused did not dispute — for what the state claimed was a breach of contract and money for work not done.
The charge sheet added that, in March 2017, Enviro Mobi submitted its first invoice a day after the tender was awarded for “fleet acquisition” for more than R16.4 million, invoicing two more times in September and November of the same year for a combined nearly R11 million.
The NPA claims the invoices were “not accompanied by any supporting documentation detailing the completion, review, [or] approval of each deliverable or any delivery notes”.
All accused were released on R30 000 bail each and will return to court next March.
Cameroon’s president is very old and missing in action:
When rumours circulated last week that Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera had suffered a stroke and died, the 69-year-old quickly dispelled them with a gentle jog down the streets of Blantyre.
At one point, he stopped and did 11 push-ups in quick succession – to the applause of his party supporters and onlookers.
The health of the president is a sensitive issue in Malawi. It was only a dozen years ago that the inner circle of Bingu wa Mutharika spent several days pretending that the late president’s corpse was, in fact, alive, in a failed bid to subvert the constitutional transition by hijacking the plot of Weekend at Bernie’s.
In Cameroon, the health of the president is a similarly delicate matter.
Rumours that 91-year-old Paul Biya may be dead are bubbling.
Despite official denials, he has not gone jogging – or been seen in public at all. This is despite authorities announcing on 8 October that he would be returning to Cameroon “in the next few days”.
The last time Biya was seen in public anywhere in the world was on 8 September in Beijing, after attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
He was conspicuously absent from the UN General Assembly meeting in the US weeks later, and from the Francophonie summit in Paris this month.
Biya’s cabinet chief, Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, insists that the president is in an “excellent state of health” on a “brief private stay” in Geneva.
Not many believe him, with social media rife with rumours, speculation and jokes.
Biya’s presidency, which began 41 years ago, has always been opaque, and he has never been an enthusiastic public speaker.
Long absences from the country, and public life, are nothing new.
But the recent speculation is driven by something different: the frailties that he exhibits when he does make a public appearance.
In recent years, the president has seemed barely able to carry his frail body around unaided.
At the US-Africa Summit in Washington two years ago, on stage after being called up to speak, Biya turned to his protocol officer and asked where he was and if there were any important guests in the hall, apparently unaware that the lapel mic he was wearing was still on.
Government spokesperson René Emmanuel Sadi said the rumours of Biya’s death were “pure fantasy and imagination” by detractors aiming to destabilise the country.
The interior minister has classified the president’s health as a matter of national security and banned media debates about it. “Offenders will face the full force of the law,” Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji said.
He empowered regional governors to set up monitoring units and crack down on dissent.
Rather than threatening journalists, there is an easier way to stop the speculation, says Angela Quintal, who heads the Africa programme at the Committee to Protect Journalists. “It would have been simpler to arrange a public appearance for President Biya, wherever he may be.”
Laagering around an ailing Biya
Cameroon has one experience of dealing with a dead president – but it did not go smoothly.
The country’s only other previous head of state, Ahmadou Ahidjo, died in 1989. He does not rest in peace.After being usurped by Biya, Ahidjo fled into exile in Senegal in 1983. Six years later, he suffered a heart attack and was buried in Dakar.
This was an ignominious end for a man who had been a symbol of Cameroon’s independence, revered as a national hero.
But the Biya government, despite much public pressure, has never repatriated his remains, much to the anger of his family, people from northern Cameroon, civil society groups and opposition political parties, including the Social Democratic Front.
These groups continue to agitate for the return of Ahidjo’s body, seeing it as a way of both honouring Ahidjo and reconciling some of Cameroon’s bitter internal divisions.
There is no public protocol for what will happen to the current president’s body when he dies. Nor does the country know what to expect in his absence.
To maintain his firm grip on power, Biya wove a patronage network that would make transition from him difficult.
To keep his allies on their toes, he has never announced a clear succession plan. That means that Cameroon’s next leader may have to fight his way through a crowded chessboard of other contenders.
There are many pretenders to the throne. From Biya’s inner circle, his son Franck Biya and general secretary Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Cabinet Chief Mvondo Ayolo, Finance Minister Louis-Paul Motazé, Justice Minister Laurent Esso and Government Spokesperson and Communications Minister Emmanuel Saidi.
The public might want to see statesmen like Akere Muna and Christopher Fomunyoh have a go. And opposition figures who sense an opportunity include Cabral Libii, Maurice Kamto, Joshua Osih and – with conspicuous support from Russia – Serge Espoir Matomba.
Whoever does end up in Yaoundé’s Unity Palace – or in Biya’s infamous corner suite at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva – will have their work cut out.
As Munjah Vitalis Fagha, a political scientist at the University of Buea, puts it: “We will have to start building institutions all over since we were focused on building strong men.”
The author’s identity is being kept anonymous given Cameroon’s ban on debating President Paul Biya’s health.
This article first appeared in The Continent, the pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the Mail & Guardian. It’s designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download your free copy at thecontinent.org
Diary: Christmas at The Big Top Arena, Keenan Meyer live, Calling Us Home:
Keenan Meyer LIVE
The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is presenting a performance by acclaimed South African pianist and composer Keenan Meyer on Tuesday, 22 October.
The Art of Pianism, will feature selections from his latest work Reawakening, along with pieces from his debut album The Alchemy of Living and classics from the South African jazz archive.
The Art of Pianism explores the essence of African pianism, focusing on themes of reclamation, ancestral memory, and the power of music as a tool for personal growth and cultural connection. Meyer invites the audience on a journey of introspection, empathy, and unity through his captivating compositions.
A rising star in the South African jazz scene, Meyer has been honing his craft since 2007.
A Swingin’ Christmas at Carnival City
This holiday season, get ready for A Swingin’ Christmas at The Big Top Arena, Carnival City. On stage for one weekend only, on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 December, this festive extravaganza will feature the acclaimed 18-piece Johannesburg Big Band.
Expect holiday favourites and South African classics with a big band twist, performed by a line-up including Kurt Darren, Zwai Bala, Harry Sideropoulos, Monique Steyn and the Mzansi Youth Choir.
The show blends swinging jazz, toe-tapping rhythms, and heart-warming harmonies, creating a festive atmosphere perfect for the whole family. Performances are at noon and 4pm on both days.
Calling Us Home – The Musical embarks on its African tour
The grand-scale production Calling Us Home — The Musical is set to begin an ambitious multi-country tour across Africa, starting in Durban in 2025. This ground-breaking musical, which debuted in Cape Town in 2023, garnered critical acclaim and captivated audiences with its heart-wrenching story of Grace, an African princess, fleeing war and seeking hope in a gritty American city.
Directed by award-winning American director Peter Flynn, the production promises to deliver a spectacular African tale of love, loss, and courage. Cape Town composer Alice Gillham created the music, adding authenticity to the African experience.
Ticket sales open early 2025.
Submit and get free exposure here: Showcase Your Business | Advertise Your Special Offers.
