The ANC integrity commission (IC) has cleared deputy president Paul Mashatile of any wrongdoing in the saga over luxury homes in Waterfall in Gauteng and Constantia in Cape Town.
The commission, a structure comprising party veterans, told the ANC national executive committee (NEC) last Sunday that it had made no adverse findings after its probe into Mashatile. However, it recommended that he move out of his son-in-law’s controversial luxury home in Waterfall and move into the official deputy president’s Oliver Tambo House in Bryntirion, Pretoria.
The NEC is said to have taken the commission to task over this recommendation, accusing it of “overreaching”. Several NEC members told the Sunday Times this week that the commission should have ended its report with its findings and not made recommendations.
“The IC sometimes goes overboard and we have told them this before. Because if you are not making an adverse finding then what are you doing making such extensive recommendations?” said an NEC insider.
The NEC sources said the recommendation was not well received and came across as a directive. “So we called them to clarify themselves and they said no, we are not saying he must move out of the house but that he should perhaps consider it,” said one of the sources.
“But we said no, if there is no problem with how the money to get the house was received then what’s the problem? So as far as we are concerned the matter is closed.”
The insiders said the recommendation had wider implications, for example President Cyril Ramaphosa resides in his private home in Hyde Park and only goes to his official residence, Mahlamba Ndlopfu, for meetings.
Mashatile’s spokesperson Keith Khoza said that the deputy president has always maintained that he did nothing wrong.
“Generally, the deputy president has maintained that he does not comment on internal ANC matters. However, [he] has always maintained that the processes of declaration, integrity, ethical leadership are an important feature of the ANC and the government. Hence he’s always presented himself to the IC and ethics committee in parliament, which are the processes he fully supports,” said Khoza.
At the height of the allegations of corruption against him in 2024, Mashatile wrote to the integrity commission asking for an audience under the ANC’s approach that those facing accusations must voluntarily appear before the structure.
In his letter to the commission, Mashatile attached an affidavit he had sent to the parliamentary ethics committee in response to a complaint by then DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube.
Gwarube, who is now the basic education minister, had filed the complaint after news reports ran a series of stories linking Mashatile to alleged corruption. The reports suggested that Nonkwelo Investments, owned by Mashatile’s son-in-law, Nceba Nonkwelo, was granted a R30m loan by the Gauteng Partnership Fund, an entity of the Gauteng department of human settlements, for a student housing project that never materialised.
The reports alleged that Mashatile had made use of mansions owned by Nonkwelo in Constantia, Cape Town and Waterfall in Midrand, Gauteng.
Reports also said that the deputy president had spent time in Edwin Sodi’s house in Clifton, Cape Town. Sodi is one of the accused in the R255m Free State asbestos corruption trial, alongside former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. The Zondo commission heard that Sodi had made payments to ANC leaders, including Mashatile.
Mashatile told the ethics committee that he stayed at Sodi’s Clifton property for social visits and that the payments in question from Sodi, whom he has known for three decades, were for the benefit of the ANC and were paid into the party’s accounts.
Mashatile in that affidavit also rejected allegations that he had corruptly influenced tenders for the benefit of his family or close friends.
“When it comes to my relationship with Mr Sodi, it’s important to note that we are friends. We’ve known each other since the early 1990s,” said Mashatile.
“Apart from our friendship, there exists no professional or financial affiliation between Mr Sodi, his companies, and me. Any insinuation suggesting otherwise is unfounded and without merit. Yes, I have occasionally visited and stayed at Mr Sodi’s Clifton property during visits to Cape Town. These visits were purely for social purposes, and I never visited the property when Mr Sodi was not staying there.”
Mashatile submitted his affidavit to parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests just weeks before the elections. He called the allegations against him “flimsy” and designed to tarnish his name ahead of the polls. The committee should dismiss the complaint, he said.
“The complaint lodged by Hon Gwarube, even though it’s under oath, is not evidence. It is unsubstantiated hearsay, and an attempt to convince the committee to embark on an impermissible fishing expedition. This should, with respect, be the end of the complaint,” wrote Mashatile.
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