Maimane to move on Andile deal

● DA leader Mmusi Maimane is piling pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to be more transparent about his son Andile’s business dealings with a controversial government service provider.

The Sunday Times understands that Maimane is due to announce today that he is launching an urgent application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) to compel Ramaphosa and government contractor African Global Operations (AGP), previously known as Bosasa, to provide him with the company’s business contract with Andile.

Andile’s business dealings with AGP came to the fore this week when Maimane, during the president’s Q&A session in parliament on Tuesday, confronted Ramaphosa with evidence that the CEO of AGP had ordered his staff to pay R500,000 into a trust account belonging to Andile, under suspicious circumstances.

But a few hours after his father admitted to his business transactions with AGP, Andile denied any knowledge of the payment, in an interview with News24.

This has now prompted Maimane to opt for the Paia application in an attempt to get to the bottom of the matter.

Maimane said he wanted to ensure that the politically connected are held liable.

In his Paia application, seen by the Sunday Times, Maimane argues that the “R500,000 financial consulting services provided by the president’s son Andile Ramaphosa to Bosasa … need to be shown to be legal, which access to the contract and invoice can do”.