Johannesburg - A City Press investigation has established how a close confidant of President Jacob Zuma’s landed a significant stake in a controversial R1.7bn deal – and then had his shareholding doubled shortly before the deal was signed.
City Press reported on Monday that Sizwe Shezi has served as a trustee of two of Zuma’s trusts – the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust and the Jacob Zuma RDP Children’s Trust – and has been described as “one of Zuma’s most committed backers”.
His company, TheMan Investments, received shares worth an estimated R122.4m courtesy of a generous loan from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which makes investments using government workers’ pension money.
The lucrative deal, to buy a 22.95% stake in oil company Total SA, was one of the deals that United Democratic Movement opposition leader Bantu Holomisa red-flagged in his letter to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela last week.
Holomisa said he had “anonymously received serious allegations [of] possible corruption” at the PIC, including allegations that the governing party had benefited from PIC funds.
City Press’ investigation raises several red-flags the Public Protector may wish to consider:
The deal
During mid-2015, a company called Kilimanjaro Capital approached the PIC with a request for funding to acquire a 25% stake in Total’s South African operations from its BEE partner, Tosaco.
Consortium chairperson Lawrence Mulaudzi said: “We approached the PIC, Standard Bank and Nedbank. Standard Bank and Nedbank offered us term sheets – the PIC said they could not give us term sheets until we were selected as the preferred bidder, but they gave us an expression of interest.”
geeeez! don't tell me I am not dreaming, this is stuff of nightmares mos.