ANC donations: Makhubo denies links to dodgy deals
CITY of Joburg mayor Geoff Makhubo has denied that his friend and former business partner, Patrick Makubedu, made a number of donations to the ANC in a bid to influence his chances of winning IT contracts in the city.
Makhubo testified at the Zondo Commission regarding cash flow and transactions during his tenure as treasurer of the Greater Johannesburg Region of the ANC, and as finance manager at the City of Joburg.
The commission heard that Makubedu – a director at IT service management company EOH – made a number of donations to the ANC and also made several transactions from his personal business to bail out Makhubo’s cash-strapped business.
In one instance, Makhubedu had transferred R200 000 into Makhubo’s Molelwane Consulting business account that had only a little over R60 in it.
The commission heard evidence that after donating and assisting Makhubo and the ANC with funding, Makubedu emailed Makhubo with a networking proposal related to a tender at the City of Johannesburg.
Despite not receiving an emailed response from Makhubo, his close friend Makubedu sent a second email with an invoice of more than R1.6 million from TSS, a subsidiary of EOH attached.
A few days later, a third email sent from Makubedu to Makhubo contained a blank letter of appointment allegedly drafted by Makubedu. Such a letter, evidence leader advocate Matthew Chaskalson said, should have been written by the City of Joburg and not Makubedu.
Makhubo said he did not know why Makubedu sent him those emails as the matter did not involve him.
Questioned why he did not ask his close friend Makubedu about the emails, Makhubo said he did not know and he had ignored them.
“If you don’t know why he sent you those emails, one would think that in preparation for your appearance here today, you would call him and ask him ’why did you send me those things’.
“One would expect that,” said commission head Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Justice Zondo said the emails created the impression that Makubedu expected Makhubo to “do something for his entity”.
However, Makhubo told the commission that he was merely fund-raising for the ANC and, for him, it was clear that the transactions were only a donation to the party.