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Nthimotse Mokhesi, the head of the Free State’s human settlements department, was subjected to intense questioning in the state’s arrest investigation on Monday for a business transaction he signed with a service provider in his department.
The commission’s testing leader, Paul Pretorius SC, read Mokhesi’s affidavit in which he stated that he entered into an agreement with Blackhead Consulting CEO Edwin Sodi to purchase a home in Bloemfontein for 1.6 million rand in 2015.
Blackhead Consulting was part of a joint venture with Diamond Hill Trading, which was awarded a lucrative R255m tender to audit and evaluate homes in the province with asbestos roofs. Under the agreement signed between Sodi and Mokhesi on April 1, 2015, Blackhead Consulting (Pty) Ltd would pay R650,000 for the property to be purchased by the Mokhesi family trust.
In terms of the deal, the home would be sold after seven years in which Sodi would receive his initial investment and any benefits accruing from the sale.
Pretorius said the property was not registered in either Mokhesi’s name or Sodi’s name, even though it was a joint investment.
“Nowhere in Mr. Sodi’s books does he appear to have made a payment for his benefit or for the joint investment, let me put it in a neutral way. There is no official record, nothing in the deed office that shows that Mr. Sodi owns property with you. There is nothing in any bank account that shows a payment, ”Pretorius said.
Pretorius said that all that existed was a payment from Sodi to the attorney’s trust account.
Mokhesi agreed and said that he raised 60% of the capital required for the house.
“This was not money for me. You have to go back to Mr. Sodi as an investor. First, the guaranteed capital, the surplus and the profit on the 60-40 share, ”Mokhesi said.
