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The cute tycoon Edwin Sodi. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle)
Bid mogul Edwin Sodi returned to the State Capture investigation on Tuesday, September 29, to explain a large number of payments to politicians over six years. Multi-million dollar transfers include references to ministers, vice ministers, and the ANC. His answer: no harm, no fault.
The business bank records of cute tycoon Edwin Sodi reveal multi-million dollar payments to the ANC and incumbent ministers over six years.
The bidder returned to the Judicial Investigation Commission on Allegations of State Capture on Tuesday, September 29. Sodi was questioned about a large number of payments made between 2013 and 2019.
He defended the various deposits and lamented a recent newspaper article that anticipated this evidence in the investigation.
The list of references
The deposits, recorded on bank statements interrogated by the investigators of the investigation, include references to Minister of Health Dr. Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Labor Thulas Nxesi, Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa, Deputy Minister of Communications Pinky Kekana, the ANC General Treasurer Paul Mashatile and former Eskom CFO Anoj Singh. The reference to a Mokoena Nosizwe Zuma appears alongside a payment of 1 million rand.
The head of the legal team and advocate for test leader Paul Pretorius SC requested a payment of R6.5 million from Colin Pitso, former chief of staff of former Minister of Environmental Affairs Nomvula Mokonyane. Sodi said he simply used Pitso’s name as a reference when he paid Pitso’s father millions for construction work.
He donated R3.5 million to the ANC, of which he transferred R371,553 directly to Mashatile. “For what reason?” Pretorius asked. From time to time, Sodi replied, different people from the ANC approached him and asked for his help.
The records Pretorius collected reflect a payment of R174,000 to Kodwa. “He would say that we have not been paid on time from Luthuli House or that there are delays in payment. It still happens now, ”Sodi explained.
“Zizi is a friend I have known for several years and I made payments to him in a personal capacity before he joined the government, when he was still working for the ANC, and that can be verified.”
Regarding a payment of R6.5 million to Mkhize, Sodi said:
“The ANC was paid at the time that he was general treasurer and it would have been he who approached me at that time to ask for my help, that is why his name is used as a reference.”
Sodi then defended his “substantial” donations to the ANC: “I am not an ANC member with a card, but I support the ANC.”
“I don’t think there is any crime in which someone supports a party of their choice. The fact that much of the work I receive comes from the government, I find it a bit of a stretch to create the link between my donations to the ANC and the work we receive. ”
Plug the leaks
Sodi raised the alarm about a leak to the press and said this had informed his decision to withhold his personal tax records.
The business records he gave the investigators reflect the politically sensitive transfers between 2013 and 2019, details of which were released on Sunday.
His photograph appeared on the cover of World Sunday. the main story of the newspaper noted that Sodi’s Blackhead Consulting “doled out sponsorship as it won more than R2bn from bids.”
George Matlala, writing for World Sunday, cited an “explosive report” prepared by investigative staff. The chairman of the commission, the vice president of the Supreme Court, Raymond Zondo, and Pretorius promised to investigate the leak. “We will check our sources,” Pretorius said.
“There are all kinds of perceptions that can be formulated and, you know, tarnish people’s image as well,” Sodi said.
After the World Sunday Sodi reportedly telephoned Nxesi, who said he had not been given the right of reply to explain the payments. Sodi told Zondo that he paid R45,000 on behalf of Nxesi to help disadvantaged children with schooling and housing.
The largest photograph
Pretorius commented on the similarities between a R255 million asbestos project and two other corrupt companies in the Free State, namely a Rand 1 billion housing plan and the Estina dairy project.
The leader of the legal team detected a pattern in agreements that involve individuals and the government that benefit the ruling party. “Perhaps, over time, the bigger picture will compose,” he said.
In August, Sodi was questioned about the Free State asbestos project, he and his business partner Igo Mpambani (who was shot dead in 2017) caught with the Free State Department of Human Settlements. The public protector FSounds “serious irregularities“ in entrepreneurship.
During his previous appearance in the investigation, Sodi declared his preference for “holy waters” or luxury liquor. This came in the context of a R600,000 tavern bill that Sodi said it racked up for about six months.
Sodi said he racked up debt by buying alcohol from the sports hall of Thabane Zulu, the then national director general of Human Settlements. Sodi said it agreed to settle the bill with Zulu by paying R600,000 into the account of a car dealer in Ballito, KZN. Funds contributed to a Range Rover for Zulu.
Zondo and Pretorius questioned Sodi about another transaction Sodi entered into with a high-ranking government official involved in the asbestos project.
On Monday, September 28, Nthimotse Mokhesi, the current head of the Human Settlements department (HOD) in the Free State, said he approached Sodi for help raising capital for a 1.6 million rand house in Bloemfontein.
Mokhesi testified that the engagement with Sodi was “purely commercial” despite the inclusion of a secrecy clause in the agreement.
Sodi provided Mokhesi with 650,000 rand for the Bloemfontein house months after Mokhesi’s department awarded work to Sodi and Mpambani for the sum of 255 million rand.
Sodi defended the real estate deal. “We had completed phase one,” he said of the asbestos work. “So, I didn’t see anything wrong when logging in, nothing wrong with this transaction.”
“The position officially was that there is still a job for you, but you are saying off the record that you had been told there would be no phase two,” Zondo said reflecting on Sodi’s evidence.
“Did you ask him why he wanted you as a partner?” Zondo asked. “Why you in particular?”
Sodi guessed it was because Mokhesi knew he liked to “play” and “speculate” in the property space.
Zondo asked if during the discussions between the businessman and the government official a consideration had been raised about whether the deal was appropriate or not.
Sodi replied, “I raised it, I raised that issue and I said, ‘Look, you know, we’ve completed our exercise.’ He admitted that “if you applied your mind to that correctly, you probably would have said this is not a good idea.”
With the benefit of hindsight, “I admit that it may seem questionable.” However, he maintained that it was “legitimate” and “correct” for him to transact with the HOD.
At the time, Zondo observed, someone without inside knowledge would have seen an agreement (service level agreement) that had not been terminated and included a second phase.
However, the payment to Sodi and Mpambani for the first phase of the asbestos project (the study of Free State houses with asbestos roofs) was incomplete.
“Mokhesi had to decide if he should continue to get paid and it was at his discretion […] to continue with the payments and these payments continued during the same period that you were entering into the agreement with him, ”said Pretorius.
While Sodi helped Mokhesi buy a comfortable house in Bloemfontein for 1.6 million rand, the asbestos survey that the Free State government paid his company to run was a sham. The survey was run poorly. Poor Free State residents still sleep under roofs that contain asbestos.
Years of abundance
Sodi’s company, Blackhead, enjoyed a bountiful harvest in 2014. That same year, Sodi made “substantial contributions” to the ANC’s election campaign.
The researchers’ numerical calculation shows that what Sodi paid for a car for Zulu (R600,000) and a house for Mokhesi (R650,000) was a silly change.
Blackhead enjoyed a turnover of more than 1 billion rand in 2014 and 2015.
The same financial analysis shows that between 2009 and 2019 Blackhead received more than R1 billion from various housing departments.
Sodi’s response: “Much of the work we do is related to human settlements, so it is not surprising.”
Cleaning of another type
Tuesday’s session was adjourned to early afternoon.
Former mineral resources minister and current ANC deputy Mosebenzi Zwane was to testify this week. The investigation has provided his attorneys with a 6,834-page package.
In order to give Zwane’s team time to assess the record, Zondo postponed the Zwane evidence until Tuesday, October 13.
Performances are scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. M. From Thursday, October 1. DM
