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Gwede Mantashe
PHOTO: Felix Dlangamandla / Netwerk24
- Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has fired his foundation’s chief operating officer for “reckless use” of his foundation’s name.
- The Gwede Mantashe Foundation has denied the allegations it received any direct or indirect payment from the companies mentioned in the reports.
- WhatA company of which the COO was a director allegedly received up to R6 million from the electricity wholesaler Voltex.
Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe fired his foundation’s chief operating officer (COO) following reports that money earmarked for a private company was disguised as a donation to the foundation.
On Saturday, News24 reported that in October 2016, the foundation’s chief operating officer, Caswell Mokoena, allegedly wrote a letter on the NGO’s letterhead acknowledging receipt of a donation of R935,000 from Voltex. However, the money was allegedly received by Ntlokholo Investments, a company of which Mokoena was a director. He resigned from the company in May 2017.
Voltex, a wholesaler of electrical products, is a subsidiary of the Bidvest Group listed on JSE. Details of the payment are contained in the documents of a 17 million rand lawsuit that was filed in the Labor Court in November.
READ ALSO | EXCLUSIVE: Bidvest Company, Mantashe Foundation Shaken by Allegations of Corruption
In the newspapers, Nicolaos Riga, a former Voltex internal auditor, claimed that Voltex paid Ntlokholo up to R6 million in questionable payments. The payments, Riga argued, relate to a 2015 tender in which Solid State Power, a subsidiary of Voltex, had been awarded for the supply of solar geysers to the Department of Energy.
Riga argued that the payments were questionable because Ntlokholo Investments was not part of the geyser contract between Solid State Power and the Department of Energy.
A statement issued by the Gwede Mantashe Foundation stated that “the foundation together with Mr. Mokoena have concluded that Mr. Mokoena [should] be relieved of his duties so that he can deal with this matter. “
“The foundation has not received any type of direct or indirect payment from the companies mentioned in the reports. Therefore, when complaints of irregular conduct or payments are made to a person or entity that may be associated with the foundation at the door of that person and / or entity.
“The foundation is strongly against any individual associated with it who may abuse its official brand, any of its materials and the position they occupy in it, to act in a way that damages its image and reputation and, therefore, undermine its objective. In this sense, it was a mistake that Mr. Caswell Mokoena, as the foundation’s chief operating officer, would have used the foundation’s letterhead the way he did, “the statement said.
The foundation, according to the statement, is a charity that raises funds through various initiatives to support communities in need.
“For all intents and purposes, the fundraiser … is directed at the cause and not directly at the foundation.
