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A year into the DA taking control of the Tshwane metro in 2016, former party leader Tony Leon set up a meeting with the then mayor, Solly Msimanga, to discuss how his public relations company Resolve Communications could score tenders from the city administration.
This explosive allegation is contained in an affidavit deposed by a former senior manager in the City of Tshwane to the public protector this week. The affidavit accompanies a complaint filed by ActionSA calling for an investigation into allegations by former DA leader John Steenhuisen that Resolve Communications put DA cabinet ministers in the GNU under duress to meet its clients.
According to Mmusi Maimane, Steenhuisen’s predecessor as DA leader, in 2016 Leon — the chair of Resolve Communications — also asked Herman Mashaba, then the DA mayor of Johannesburg, to facilitate a business relationship between that metro and his PR company. Maimane said Mashaba — now the leader of ActionSA — rejected the overture.
Resolve was also a service provider to the City of Cape Town in 2018, during its drought crisis. The Cape Town municipality said this week it has since stopped doing business with Leon’s firm.
In the affidavit, the former City of Tshwane staff member alleges that the “uncomfortable” meeting during which Leon solicited tenders was held at Msimanga’s office.
“During the discussion, I was asked to consider ways in which Resolve Communications could be incorporated into work being undertaken by the newly established administration,” the official says.
“From what was discussed during the meeting, I understood that Resolve Communications was seeking to secure consulting or contractual work from the City of Tshwane and that the purpose of the engagement was to explore opportunities through which the company could provide services to the city.”
But Leon, who has been under intense scrutiny this week over Steenhuisen’s accusations that his company exploits its proximity to DA ministers and public office bearers for the benefit of its clients, has rejected the allegations.
To place some sinister and malicious spin on what was perfectly a normal meeting is absurd
— Tony Leon
He told the Sunday Times that there was nothing sinister about the meeting he had held with Msimanga and his staff in 2017 and that it had not resulted in any business coming Resolve’s way.
“To place some sinister and malicious spin on what was perfectly a normal meeting is absurd. Our business, like dozens of other similar firms in the country and internationally, is an entirely legitimate one specialising in strategic communications and crisis management,” Leon said in a written response to questions.
“In this specific case there is an offer of information and a case made on the merits — and the respondent (here the City of Tshwane) is completely free to consider, reject or discuss further.
“Note, in the end, there was no contracting of any services by the city at all. Who the city (or any other entity) chooses to contract with is entirely the business of the city, following all lawful processes — processes our communications firm cannot, and does not want, to subvert.”
Asked about the meeting with Leon, Msimanga, who is now DA leader in Gauteng, said on Friday: “Not to my knowledge.”
Maimane and others who have held senior DA positions, or still do, have supported Steenhuisen’s allegations about Leon and Resolve. Maimane, now leader of Build One South Africa, described him as the party’s “Dalai Lama”.
Leon, in public statements, has issued several denials of impropriety. He argues that his firm conducted itself ethically and breached no laws, only acting within the normal scope of how public relations businesses operate in the interests of their clientele.
The questions about the ethics of Leon’s business conduct are fuelled by the fact that he was an integral part of the DA’s negotiating team during the formation of the GNU.
I was trying to prevent private lobbying by private individuals
— Mmusi Maimane
Maimane, who until now has refused to openly discuss his past relations with the party, told the Sunday Times that he once told the DA it needed to come up with mechanisms to protect its public representatives from outside influencers such as Resolve Communications.
He said he made the proposal after Mashaba had told him of the 2016 approach from Leon. “When I was leader of the DA, we separated party and state ... I said to [DA MECs in the Western Cape], ”Guys, if that’s the case, let’s not have a situation where Resolve can even speak to the Western Cape [government] to the City of Cape Town, et cetera’ …
“I was trying to prevent private lobbying by private individuals... So, when Tony says he has no influence on the DA, it’s hogwash, it’s not true. He is John Steenhuisen’s Dalai Lama. He takes counsel from him directly,” said Maimane.
“I find it rather bizarre. If you are a PR company ... you must be able to gain access to all ministers because communication touches all ministers. But why does Resolve only have access to DA ministers? If that is the case, it’s a very dangerous practice.”
Maimane said that in the light of the recent allegations about Leon’s commercial interests, it was clear that he should not have been part of the DA’s GNU negotiations.
But Leon rejected this, saying Steenhuisen himself had asked him to join the DA team.
“He was fully aware of my role in the private sector. I saw his approach as a legitimate request to answer a vital national interest.
“Is the logical implication ... that anyone who had any involvement at all in the private sector should have been debarred from participating in this process at all? Also, the suggestion that a former politician may never hold any position outside of politics seems, quite frankly, ridiculous.”
Sources said the issue had heightened already existing tensions in the party and its leaders had refrained from meeting to discuss it, given its divisive potential. Party leaders were hoping the brouhaha would die down by itself.
They said it was an open secret that Resolve enjoyed privileged access to DA members of the government. Two senior DA insiders said there had long been an “unspoken understanding” that Resolve would be first in line whenever communications work became available in DA-run administrations.
Another senior DA insider said the parliamentary caucus was deeply divided, with some MPs unhappy that the party’s new leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, had failed to confront the growing crisis.
The DA caucus last met early in May, when it elected George Michalakis as its parliamentary leader.
Steenhuisen also revealed, in an interview with News24, that Elon Musk’s company Starlink had hired Resolve to help in its dealings with DA communications minister Solly Malatsi. It apparently complained to Resolve at one stage that the minister was “moving slowly” in amending BEE policies so it could operate in the country.
When parliament’s communications committee chair Khusela
None of these meetings discussed individual licence applications
— Solly Malatsi
Sangoni asked Malatsi for an explanation, he said there was nothing untoward about his meetings with Starlink, and that he regularly held such meetings with private companies involved in the sector.
He said that he had been holding meetings with several companies to discuss industry-related issues such as the introduction of low-earth-orbit satellite communication systems.
“None of these meetings discussed individual licence applications. Such meetings are always about understanding each entity’s capabilities and sharing insights about the country’s current regulatory dispensation,” Malatsi said.
“As ministers, we are constantly approached by stakeholders on different matters. Sometimes stakeholders do so directly or through third parties, often companies offering services in public affairs and stakeholder engagements.
“There are also occasions in which MPs approach me with suggestions to meet stakeholders. All of this is a normal, and indeed essential, part of being in government.”
Editor’s note: On one of our social media platforms on Saturday, we published a poster with the following words, “Solly Msimanga tells how former DA leader courted Tshwane for government work during ‘uncomfortable’ meeting. Details in the #SundayTimesZA tomorrow”, which implied that former Tshwane mayor and current Democratic Alliance federal chairperson, Solly Msimanga, had claimed that former DA leader Tony Leon had solicited business form Msimanga for the former’s communication company. The association of Msimanga’s name with the claim was inaccurate, as the claim was made by a former Tshwane official, who has also deposed an affidavit to that effect to the public protector. We regret the error, which has since been corrected, and apologise unreservedly to Msimanga.
