Dodgy service provider
himself as the minister” and Prasa because it gave “the impression that we are not being prudent with the public money that is allocated to Prasa for public good”.
Siyaya Rail Solutions and Siyaya DB have reportedly received approximately R5-billion in deals with Prasa over the years. According to a national treasury report, the Siyaya entities involved in the claim and others, including Siyaya Energy and S-Investments — where Makhensa Mabunda holds an ownership stake — were awarded seven Prasa contracts between 2012 and 2015. Five of these contracts, valued at R1.3-billion, were awarded without an open tender process. Mabunda is reportedly close to former Prasa group chief executive officer Lucky Montana.
Nzimande directed Prasa to challenge Siyaya’s attempt to be paid out “with the view of getting the [March] judgment rescinded” and the money recovered. Yet, in the course of they had not received the report by April this year.
On November 30, Prasa’s group legal services provided Makhubele with a report in which it criticised the Siyaya entities’ failure to make relevant information available to Prasa, thus delaying the conclusion of the matter. Ngoye says she and Dingiswayo “were then excluded from handling the matter” and Prasa’s attorneys, DM Inc, were instructed by Makhubele to settle. These instructions were later recorded in a letter from Zide to DM Inc.
Dingiswayo was provided with this legally privileged letter by Siyaya’s attorneys at the March court appearance, causing Ngoye to comment: “It still remains a mystery how they received a privileged document from Prasa to its attorneys.”
Ngoye says Makhubele went above her board to “appropriate” powers vested in the head of the legal services, not the chairperson.
On December 1, the Prasa board also apparently resolved to suspend, with immediate effect, the panel of attorneys it had been using. Ngoye said she found this resolution “startling” and “irrational” because the interim board had not discussed whatever concerns it had about the attorneys being used with group legal services, and “there was no consideration or directive from the interim board on what should happen to the thousands of ongoing litigation matters, some of which are urgent and complex and cannot afford any interruption”.
At the time of deposing her affidavit in April, Ngoye’s request for a signed resolution of the board’s alleged decision to suspend all Prasa’s attorneys had not been met: “I do not know if one [signed resolution] exists; if it does, it has not been shared with me or Dingiswayo,” Ngoye stated.
On December 15, when Dingiswayo called DM Inc to enquire about the progress in the Siyaya matter, he was informed that Makhubele had “barred” them from interacting with group legal services about it. “This was startling,” Ngoye stated in her affidavit. On the same day, DM Inc was instructed to settle the amounts claimed by the Siyaya entities.
Over the next few months attempts to pay out Siyaya were made, but were thwarted by technical reasons, including the exclusion of the relevant group executives in the merit assessment of the claim. This suggests that Makhubele either did not know about the prescripts required to sanction such large payouts by the parastatal, or was disregarding them.
Prasa’s legal team notified Siyaya’s attorneys of its intention to have the court order for settlement rescinded. This was met with silence, as Siyaya sought to have money paid out as quickly as possible. The day the sheriff executed the order, transferring almost R60-million out of Prasa’s account, Makhubele resigned from the Prasa board.
Makhubele refused to answer questions over the phone last week and requested that these be emailed to her. She then refused to respond to the detailed questions, dismissing the evidence before the M&G as “old”. She then did not respond to calls and text messages seeking a reply over the weekend.