Deputy finance minister David Masondo has won a court order interdicting businessman 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, which 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 R725m to obtain a shareholding in an entity known as MetroFibre.
Levoca owned 19% of the shares in MetroFibre. 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 e-mails, alleged the failed deal, which triggered the transfer of his company’s MetroFibre shares to the PIC, was not because of the dispute with the law firm but because he refused to pay a R3m bribe to the PIC’s suspended acting head of unlisted investments, Thabiso Moshikara.
This judgment transcends personal vindication; it is a victory for the public servants whose pensions and savings we are mandated to protect
— David Masondo, deputy finance minister
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 the chair of the PIC board. The entity is responsible for investing money on behalf of the GEPF, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund.
Mampeule 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 damning and made without proof. “The baseless allegations include direct and very serious allegations of criminality, corruption, institutional capture ... all of which have no factual basis and no supporting evidence. Those allegations would plainly lower my reputation, esteem and good standing,” his 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”.
Judge Gregory Wright, in his judgment delivered on Wednesday after the hearing of the urgent application, found Mampeule’s statements about Masondo, without proof, were false and defamatory.
He directed Mampeule to issue an e-mail to the same recipients he made the allegations to about Masondo and state 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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