Denying a malicious report
Dr Zweli Mkhize, a former member of one of the ANC’s “top six” leaders, poses for a photograph in Johannesburg late last year in this file photo. Mkhize is denying all allegations of being involved in corruption raised by a Sunday newspaper yesterday.
CO-OPERATIVE Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize is consulting lawyers about a newspaper report yesterday claiming that he was involved in corruption. “The allegations published by the Sunday Times newspaper today, June 10, 2018, about some R4.5 million ‘kickback’ or ‘facilitation fee’ that I am supposed to be seeking due to a loan that was granted to a company called Afric Oil by the Public Investment Corporation are a ridiculous and malicious fabrication,” he said in a statement yesterday morning. “I have never facilitated the said loan negotiations, nor have I sought any ‘facilitation fee’ from the said company. It is extremely unacceptable and mischievous for my name to be dragged into a matter that I have nothing to do with in this manner. I am seeking legal advice,” Mkhize said. The Sunday Times reported that a letter of demand from a Johannesburg law firm had exposed an alleged R4.5m kickback for the former ANC treasurer-general and other ANC supporters for helping an oil company get a huge loan from the Public Investment Corporation. The “facilitation fee” had been described by governance experts as “highly inappropriate” and “nothing short of corruption”, the Sunday Times reported. – African News Agency (ANA)