FS Officer Admits Receiving Over R600K From Blackhead Consulting

JOHANNESBURG – Free State Housing HOD Nthimotse Mokhesi admitted to using a family trust to receive almost R650,000 from a supplier who received the R255 million asbestos project, but did not disclose it.

Mokhesi told the state capture commission on Monday that, in hindsight, he should not have reached an agreement, in which businessman Edwin Sodi paid the money for his house.

He claimed that it was an investment company, but the commission asked why Sodi was not listed anywhere on the ownership documents.

Blackhead Consulting, a company that had no experience auditing or removing asbestos, received R255 million for the work in the Free State.

Six months later, its director Sodi paid R650,000 to a Mokhesi family trust to secure a R1 million bond for a house in Bloemfontein.

Mokhesi called it an investment deal.

“You have to use some kind of efficient tax structure,” he said.

He said Sodi helped him buy the property because his credit rating had been affected by a judgment from the South African Revenue Service (Sars), and revealed the trust that received the money, but not the investment.

Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo said: “One advantage of using the trust to enter into this transaction is that you would not have to disclose this amount because you did not enter the settlement in your personal capacity.”

“It’s not an advantage, it’s a commercial …” Mokhesi said in response.

Zondo said: “It is an advantage because you told me that Absa could not give you a full bond and that you needed someone to get accommodation beyond R1 million.”

Mokhesi’s lawyer, lawyer Dali Mpofu, repeatedly intervened to ensure that he did not answer any questions to incriminate himself.

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