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Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has defended claims that he received payments for his “personal benefit” after businessman Edwin Sodi revealed that he made a payment of 6.5 million rand referring to the minister.
Sodi had told Zondo’s commission of inquiry into the state capture on Tuesday that he made payments to the African National Congress (ANC) and other government officials.
He defended the payment saying that Mkhize was the general treasurer of the ANC (TG) at the time of the payment and that the money was specifically for the party.
Mkhize acknowledged the payments made, but explained that the payments were donations to the ANC, not for personal gain.
“I wish to state categorically that I have never received funds from Mr. Sodi, either personally or through third parties intended for my personal benefit.
“I can confirm that during my tenure as general treasurer of the ANC, Mr. Sodi, like many other entrepreneurs, companies and organizations made donations to the ANC.
“In fact, when I took over at TG, Mr. Sodi’s contacts were available in the ANC’s donor database as one of the people who had previously donated to the ANC.
“This database was compiled and maintained by the finance office through various public fundraising events carried out by the ANC. This is how we get in touch with people or companies and invite them to our events, ”she said in a statement on Friday.
Mkhize said that Sodi made the donations to the ANC directly or through its entities during his tenure as TG of the party.
“The information has been verified with the ANC finance office today [Friday] that Mr. Sodi donated R3 million on February 28, 2014, R3.5 million on April 3, 2014, R1.5 million on September 29, 2015 and R 150,000 on January 8, 2016.
The minister further clarified that the payments were deposited into the ANC’s bank accounts.
“Once again I categorically state that the above payments were directly deposited into the official ANC bank accounts, so I can only assume that the donor used the name Zweli Mkhize as a reference, given my capacity at the time as general treasurer.
“Also, I want to emphasize that all the donations we received were voluntary, never transactional, or tied to obtaining government employment.”
He added that he had no personal, professional or business relationship with Sodi during his tenure.
“I have never been a part of any of his businesses nor have I interacted with him on a personal level.”
Mkhize noted that the Democratic Alliance (DA) stated that it will report it to parliament because of the donations.
“In the process of doing so, it would help the Prosecutor’s Office to try to properly understand the rules of parliament.
“At the time the ANC received these donations, I was the general treasurer, with the specific function of raising funds for my organization. I was not a member of parliament and, in any case, I did not directly benefit from these donations from Mr. Sodi.
“Therefore, there is no parliamentary requirement for me to declare all donations that the ANC received during my tenure as TG.
“It is also worth mentioning that when illegality and misconduct have been found, law enforcement agencies should investigate this. Matters related to Mr. Sodi and his companies are now before the courts.
“Therefore, this legal process must be allowed to run its course without being clouded by mischief and misinformation that carries people’s names, where there is no evidence.”
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