Godongwana on the spot

Forensic report: ANC official and Mabe must be called to account for payments they received from tyre-recycling initiative

Enoch Godongwana has gone to ground over claims that he was paid a R100,000/month retainer by a government-funded tyre recycling company, itself mired in scandal.

The ANC’S head of economic policy failed to give his input into an explosive draft report prepared by forensic specialists Accountants @ Law. Drafted for the liquidators of the Recycling & Economic Development Initiative of SA (Redisa) and its external management company, Kusaga Taka, the report identified payments made by Redisa to Godongwana and his wife, Thandiwe, as well as former ANC MP Pule

Mabe.

Godongwana failed to respond to repeated requests for comment from the

Financial Mail.

Faced with the looming death of Redisa, its executives appear to have hit on a plan to pay off the prominent politicians to extend its life.

Redisa made monthly payments of R100,000 from February 2015 to February 2017 — totalling R3.1m — to Isivuno Consulting. Isivuno’s registered directors are Enoch and Thandiwe Godongwana.

The invoices Redisa provided to the accountants in support of these payments show Isivuno facilitated Redisa’s relationship with government and explored new waste streams.

If Godongwana successfully lobbied his colleagues in government to introduce legislation covering other waste streams, he would have been paid a collective R13m in success fees. Simply influencing them to amend Redisa’s mandate to include solid tyres, inner tubes and flats would have earned him a R3m success fee.

Accountants @ Law was unable to reach Godongwana for comment on the payments, but it recommended that these be investigated by the Hawks to see if they breached anti-corruption laws as they might have amounted to inducements.

Damning payments of more than R30m were also made to Mabe, just as national treasury was preparing to move collections of the tyre levy from Redisa to the SA Revenue Service. The shift had been in the works since thenfinance minister Pravin Gordhan’s 2016 budget presentation. This timeline is consistent with Mabe’s time as the ANC’S whip on the standing committee on finance.

In September 2016, the committee heard representations from Redisa on the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, which Redisa argued would cut off its funding and was unconstitutional.

Had Mabe been able to whip the nine (out of 16) votes necessary to block the amendment to the bill,