Deputy finance minister David Masondo has won a court order interdicting businessperson Ralebala Mampeule from alleging he was involved in corruption at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) or benefited financially from shady deals.
Mampeule had a R725m deal with the PIC that soured last year. His company, Levoca, concluded a preference share subscription agreement with the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), represented by the PIC, to provide a funding facility of R725,000,000 to obtain shareholding in an entity known as Metro Fibre Networks.
Levoca owned 19% of shares in Metro Fibre Networks. The deal collapsed when Levoca had legal trouble with a law firm that handled the transaction.
The firm billed Levoca R128,000. There was a dispute over the amount and how much Levoca had to pay.
The PIC, which has more than R3-trillion in assets under management, withdrew funding from Levoca, citing breach of contract because the company failed to pay the law firm and was placed under business rescue.
Mampeule, in a trail of emails, alleged the failed deal, which triggered the transfer of his company’s Metro Fibre Networks shares to the PIC, was not because of the dispute with the law firm but because he refused to pay a R3m bribe to PIC’s suspended acting head of unlisted investments, Thabiso Moshikara.
In January, he alleged Masondo and the PIC’s investment head of legal, Lindiwe Dlamini, were “allegedly collaborating to allegedly create unnecessary legal issues for various black-owned companies that the PIC funds”.
Masondo is board chair of the PIC, which is responsible for investing money on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Compensation Fund (CF).
He alleged the scheme was used for the PIC to seize shares and subsequently sell them to other companies at the lowest possible prices and benefit Masondo.
Masondo disputed the allegations, arguing they were made without proof.
“The baseless allegations include direct and very serious allegations of criminality, corruption, institutional capture and acting in a manner that undermines an important initiative by … [BEE], all of which have no factual basis and no supporting evidence. Those allegations would plainly lower my reputation, esteem and good standing,” Masondo’s affidavit reads.
Mampeule, in his court papers, argued the case was aimed at undermining his right to freedom of expression, ”and it is an attempt to threaten, intimidate and silence me in the exercise of my constitutional rights to speak out against corruption and malfeasance”.
False and defamatory
Judge Gregory Wright, in his judgment delivered on Wednesday after the hearing of the urgent application, found Mampeule’s statements about Masondo, without proof, are false and defamatory.
He directed Mampeule to issue an email to the recipients to whom he made the allegations about Masondo, stating that he made false statements. He was given 24 hours to abide by the order.
The order also interdicted Mampeule from making the allegations on public platforms or publishing them.
The court, however, said he could address the allegations in his complaint to the public protector and police.
“This judgment transcends personal vindication; it is a victory for the public servants whose pensions and savings we are mandated to protect,” Masondo said in a statement on Thursday.
“Every rand the PIC invests represents the hard work of a public official. When borrowers default on their obligations, it is public servants who bear the cost.”
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