PIC inquiry: The curious case of Mondli Gungubele’s power
‘He can clearly not be trusted… he has contributed to the current state of PIC disarray’
chairperson of the board at the PIC.
The Public Servants Association (PSA) general manager, Ivan Fredericks, said immediate steps needed to be taken to discipline Gungubele.
“He can clearly not be trusted in his position and he has furthermore contributed to the current state of disarray of the PIC.
“This is again underlining the PSA’s stance that the chairperson of the PIC should not be appointed for political reasons to support personal gain, but the appointment should be based on integrity and expertise.”
Of note is that Gungubele is placed slap bang in the centre of a corruption triad, along with acting chief executive Matshepo More and director Sibusisiwe Zulu, by the Noko emails. These emails are the reason why Finance Minister Tito Mboweni forced the board to resign.
Noko accused the three of being responsible for handing over R6 billion to Zulu’s live-in lover Lawrence Mlaudzi.
Claims made by Noko are also to the effect that if one needs a transaction to be approved by the PIC one would be told to talk to Mlaudzi, who is not part of the PIC. Mlaudzi would then negotiate terms, such as shareholding and kickbacks, according to Noko.
We have heard quite a lot about erstwhile chief executive Dr Dan Matjila’s alleged facilitation of a R300 000 funding for one Pretty Louw and this has been cleared by the Budlender Report. However, we are talking about R6bn among other transactions, albeit not explicitly outlined by Noko and somehow the focus is on the former chief executive.
While the deputy minister’s dismissal may seem unlikely considering that the national elections are just around the corner, the claims made by Noko around how Mlaudzi’s R6bn deal was made are pertinent.
It is in the public’s interest to find out the truth of whether Mlaudzi is colluding with PIC chairperson Gungubele, acting chief executive More and director Zulu.
This is the crux of Noko’s latest claims, which suggest a modus operandi that smacks of corruption amounting to the misappropriation of billions of government pensioners’ funds.
Love or hate our whistle-blower James Nogu/Noko, it is his whistle-blowing that opened up this can of worms at the state-owned asset manager with R2.083 trillion of assets under management.