One mansion isn't enough for Paul Mashatile. The controversial deputy president has two, splitting his time between a modern masterpiece at the luxurious Waterfall Estate in Johannesburg's Midrand and another in Constantia, Cape Town.
On paper, neither of them belong to him, despite declaring the properties in parliament under the section titled: “ownership in land and property”.
This week Mashatile derided the media for questioning how he could afford the homes, worth almost R70m combined, on his government salary of R3.2m a year, saying they belonged to “family”. But governance experts say Mashatile is being obtuse, and that his “lifestyle needs close scrutiny”.
Prof Alex van den Heever, chair of social security system administration and management studies at the Wits University School of Governance said the fact that Mashatile's relatives “have accumulated wealth so rapidly from questionable public sector contracts ... cannot reasonably be explained away as innocent”.
Punted as a potential guest house due to its size — eight bedrooms, five reception rooms and garaging for 10 cars — Mashatile's Cape Town home is valued at almost R30m.
The 4,000m² property in Constantia Upper features a swimming pool with views of the Constantia Valley.
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When in Gauteng, Mashatile lives in an ultra modern double storey home in an exclusive equestrian estate in Waterfall City, Midrand, worth R39m.
The estate boasts vast open parkland, fishing dams, hiking and biking trails with picnic spots and play parks for its residents.
The four-bedroom home is reportedly owned by a company owned by his son Thabiso Mashatile and his son-in-law Nceba Nonkwelo. The home is listed to have four garages, access to a dam and an infinity pool, among other amenities.
Empty stands at the estate sell for up to R4.5m according to its website, while renting a property could cost R100,000 per month.
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Mashatile's acting spokesperson Keith Khoza yesterday told the Sunday Times that the Constantia property was a “family home”.
“The two properties are not his so for us, that's where the difference is. He wasn't declaring his personal residence but a family home,” Khoza said.
He said Mashatile had clarified that what he declared was “the usage of those houses, not ownership”.
“This was deliberately misconstrued to mean something else when it's evident there [in the declaration of interests] that it says family homes ... He's expected, as he is staying in those houses, to declare where he stays,” said Khoza.
Mashatile also told SABC TV that the Constantia Upper property was owned by his son-in-law.
“I don’t use government money, there’s no government money in those houses, so what are you looking for? It’s a private home, it’s owned by the family,” he said.
Mashatile also declared his 3,000m² property in the Johannesburg suburb of Kelvin, near Sandton, which he has owned for more than two decades. It is unclear who lives there.
This week, Mashatile was fined R10,000 for failing to declare a diamond gift his wife Humile received from controversial businessman and diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg in 2023.
Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests recommended that the National Assembly reprimand Mashatile and impose a R10,000 fine “for his failure to declare a gift to his wife in the confidential part of his financial and registrable interests register”.
Mashatile previously said the diamond was unsolicited. This week he said the diamond had been handed over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Khoza said Mashatile was in the process of authenticating and determining the value of the stone when Liebenberg was arrested.
“The deputy president wanted to hand it back to him but at that time he was arrested. We then gave it to law enforcement,” he said.
NPA north Gauteng spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said yesterday that the diamond had been “handed over to the SAPS for valuation”.
Van den Heever said people in positions of public power should be closely scrutinised.
“The risk is that [those who hold power] will abuse it for private gain instead of using it for the public good. It is for this reason that those in high office should be most closely scrutinised and held to account expeditiously,” he said.
Close scrutiny would “ensure that those without integrity are punished and removed as fast as possible”, he added.
“Conflicts of interest of any nature must be prohibited expressly. These include instances where family members and other related parties access lucrative state contracts without credible competence or histories of delivery.”
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