Chief Justice Raymond Zondo swearing in new member of the Cabinet, Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane, African News Agency (ANA)
A NUMBER of the new members of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national executive have dark clouds of serious allegations of past misdemeanours hovering above their heads.
Five ministers and their deputies, who were announced in the new national executive this week, have been accused of bribery, corruption, and misuse of state funds and one escaped sequestration a few months ago.
These include the new-appointed Electricity Minister, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Sport, Arts, and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, deputy ministers in the Presidency and public works and infrastructure Pinky Kekana and Bernice Swarts, respectively.
Following his appointment as the country’s first electricity minister, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) described Ramokgopa as “basically no more than a project manager.”
“Dr Ramokgopa was surrounded by controversy a number of years ago while serving as the executive mayor of Tshwane (between 2010 and 2016) precisely because of an electricity-related fiasco regarding smart electricity meters in the city,” the party said.
According to the FF+, the purpose of installing the smart meters was to reduce Tshwane's bad debt and improve cash flow but the project was a total flop that cost the city R1.2 billion. The contract to install the meters, awarded to PEU Capital Partners, was successfully challenged in courts and opposition parties said that it was awarded irregularly.
Last year, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo recommended Ramaphosa consider the position of Zizi Kodwa as the deputy state security minister, a position he held until Monday. This was after the country’s top judicial officer found that Kodwa had a tainted relationship with controversial businessman and former EOH boss Jehan Mackay.
The State Capture Commission, headed by Chief Justice Zondo, heard how Kodwa allegedly received payments and luxury accommodation worth R2 million from Mackay between 2015 and 2017.
Chikunga, who was deputy transport minister, was accused of milking the state coffers after it was found that she was using four cars. She refused to return the state-issued BMW X6 and BMW GT in 2017 after the department bought her two new cars – a BMW X5 and a Jaguar F-Type. Chikunga was also accused of allowing a relative to fill up her petrol tank using the Avis petrol card for the state-hired car she was driving.
Last year, Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests found Kekana guilty of contravening the ethics code by failing to declare the R170,000 she received from corruption-accused businessman Edwin Sodi.
Kekana admitted to having taken the money but said it was not a bribe or a kickback. The state capture commission found that Sodi’s largesse was doled out to the ANC and his other politically-connected friends including R174,760 to Kodwa and R45,000 to Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi.
Another of Ramaphosa’s appointments, Swarts was nearly sequestrated by businessman Leonard Machanzi over an acknowledgement of debt amounting to R10 million dating back to 2019. Swarts informed Machanzi about ANC events and he sent her money to support them but could not explain why the money was deposited into her own account rather the governing party’s.
In October last year, Judge Seena Yacoob overturned an earlier order provisionally sequestrating Swarts after she indicated that she signed the acknowledgement of debt under duress. Another businessman Tuwani Mulaudzi claimed Swarts swindled him of R500,000 under the pretext that it was going to be donated to the ANC for its 2014 general elections campaign but the money did not reach the ANC.
Both Machanzi and Mulaudzi did not respond to questions sent to them.
Political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga said the announcement of those who were implicated in the Zondo Commission goes against the spirit of the commission.
“This is the commission that went about its job and did it openly. It is not like anybody is doubting its integrity, but if you look at the Cabinet reshuffle the president didn’t follow that report. But maybe this is the problem within the ANC. Maybe they don't take it (Zondo report) seriously," he said.
Mathekga added: “And also if you look at the people that the president announced and some of the people who were retained despite not doing well in their portfolios shows that the biggest consideration is political balance. It shows that the president is concerned about political survival.”