Deputy President Paul Mashatile has denied claims that he is being investigated by law enforcement agencies in connection with cases linked to him and his “lavish lifestyle”.
This comes after reports emerged of a Hawks probe into a R28-million Cape Town mansion, a Public Protector investigation into his children’s government contracts, and a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into a department where he was MEC significantly increased pressure on Mashatile to explain his lavish lifestyle.
Goolam
Mashatile’s acting spokesperson Keith Khoza said the deputy president is also aware of the existence and propagation of a post on the social media platform “X” (formerly known as Twitter) GoolamMV which “distinguishes itself by launching unverified information and often propaganda-laden attacks on the supposed political rivals of its handlers.”
“The post in question is a collection of fabrications, exaggerations, innuendo, and outright lies. It is yet another instalment in the now evident agenda being pursued by some in public life to tarnish the Deputy President’s image and destroy his reputation for purely political motives.”
“Among the falsehoods propagated by the GoolamMV account on Wednesday is the claim: “Paul Mashatile is now being investigated by the SIU, the Hawks, and the Public Protector…” This assertion has no believable basis,” Khoza said.
‘Pressure campaign’
Khoza said the post on X, News24’s stories, complaints by opposition parties and the alleged claims about state “investigations of Mashatile”, are all part of a “pressure campaign” against the deputy president.
“We view these allegations for what they are: an attempt to tarnish the standing of the deputy president in the eyes of society.”
Khoza addressed some of the claims by the news reports, including the alleged cash purchase of a R28 million house in Cape Town in December 2023 and Mashatile being the owner of another property in Waterfall Estate, Johannesburg, also “bought for R37m cash through his sons who deal in tenders with departments in which he [was] the MEC.”
“Deputy President Mashatile owns no properties in Cape Town or anywhere else, other than the house he and his late wife bought through a bank loan in the Johannesburg suburb of Kelvin.
“The deputy president has openly stated in public that he resides in a Waterfall property purchased jointly by his sons and his son in law Mr Nceba Nonkwelo, again through normal bank loans, as a family property. He moved into the property because of its better security profile compared to his own house in Kelvin, and does not own the property himself,” Khoza said.
Earlier this year, News24 reported that Nonkwelo owns the expensive properties in waterfall Estate and Constantia, but that Mashatile makes use of the homes.
It has also been reported that Nonkwelo owes around R7 million to the Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF), after receiving the money for a housing project in Johannesburg that he did not deliver.
Government tenders
Khoza said Mashatile has also refuted claims that his sons, Thabiso Mashatile and Tinyiko Mvelase, have secured tenders from government departments overseen by their father during his time in the Gauteng government.
“No provincial or national government department that the deputy president has overseen has ever awarded, been accused of, or investigated for granting tenders or work to any companies with links of any kind to members of his family.”
Khoza said a tender was issued by the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) to a company in which Thabiso and Tinyiko were directors in 2022. He said the deputy president has never been involved in GDID matters and the tender was awarded while Mashatile was working for the ANC, not the government.
Hawks investigation
Mashatile also denies reports that The Hawks are investigating the source of funds used by Nonkwelo to purchase the property in Constantia.
“The deputy president’s son-in-law Nceba Nonkwelo is a businessperson who comes from an established entrepreneurial family, which owns and operates its own independent enterprises. Nonkwelo’s primary business interests have never been in government tenders,” said Khoza.
He said the only exception to this was a 2013 loan granted to Nonkwelo’s company by the Gauteng Partnership Fund, which was subject to an independent investigation by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements last year.
“The loan to Nonkwelo’s company, and the project to which it related, dates back to a time when the deputy president was not in Gauteng and was serving as Minister for Arts and Culture in the national government.
“There has never been any allegation or suggestion that he was linked in any way to Nonkwelo’s dealings with the GPF, despite News24’s strenuous and unsuccessful attempts to draw a non-existent link,” Khoza said.
‘False claims’
Khoza said Mashatile rejects all of “these false claims”.
“What is most disturbing, however, is the willingness of his self-appointed detractors to wantonly use ostensibly independent state law-enforcement institutions as grist to the mill of their political campaign.
“The deputy president wants to restate his confidence in the role and purpose of the state security and law enforcement authorities,” Khoza said.
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