OMPHITLHETSE MOOKI and piet rampedi
M edia and curious members of the public camped outside the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court this morning, waiting for the son of Kaizer Chiefs founder (Kaizer Motaung) to appear on fraud, forgery and theft charges.
Bobby Motaung was arrested yesterday for alleged tender fraud relating to forged Sars documents his company submitted to bid for a tender to design the Mbombela Stadium.
Executive chairman of Kaizer Chiefs and head of the Motaung family Kaizer Motaung said today he had “no comment to make now”, and that he was going into a meeting.
Asked if the meeting was to discuss the arrests of his son, Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung, and two executives, he said: “No, it’s a meeting that was scheduled a long time ago.”
The club today said it had no confirmation of Motaung’s arrest and his sister and the club’s marketing manager Jessica Motaung’s phone went unanswered.
“The matter has got nothing to do with Kaizer Chiefs but [is] Bobby’s private business,” said club spokesman Vina Maphosa.
Asked how the club could distance itself from the matter when Bobby was not only the club manager for football, but the founder’s son, Maphosa said he had “no mandate or directive to comment on father-to-son issues”.
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela confirmed that they had arrested two directors of Lefika Emerging Equity (Pty) Ltd – a company that allegedly fraudulently secured a tender to build the R1.2 billion 2010 World Cup stadium.
He said one of the men was arrested in Naturena around 10am and the other in Cape Town.
Motaung was expected to appear along with the two Lefika directors, Chris Grib and Herbert Theledi.
Motaung is the company director.
“I can confirm that we [Hawks and Sars] arrested two gentlemen for fraud, forgery and theft… in relation to allegations that Lefika submitted false SA Revenue Service documents to apply for a tender to build the Mbombela Stadium.
“They are being transported to Nelspruit and will appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court tomorrow [today],” said Polela yesterday.
Kaizer Chiefs have denied Motaung’s arrest.
“Bobby has not been arrested… I have consulted with my principals and that’s the first thing I asked from the security.
“They said they didn’t see any Hawks entering the premises,” Maphosa said yesterday.
But sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Star that Motaung and Grib were picked up by the Hawks.
Polela said Lefika had submitted fraudulent documents purportedly coming from Sars when it successfully tendered for the contract to design the stadium.
He said the Hawks had “unravelled the entire bidding process and interviewed officials and the losing bidders to find out where corruption happened and who was involved”.
Polela said the arrests were the culmination of the first phase of an ongoing investigation.
The construction of the 41 000-seater venue was marred by allegations of tender fraud, corruption and wrongdoing.
The local community complained they had been forced out of their land without any compensation, with two schools demolished to make way for the stadium.
Former Mbombela municipal speaker Jimmy Mohlala, who blew the whistle on the deal, was gunned down in January 2009.
He had publicly accused Lefika, other companies and individuals of tender corruption a year earlier.
Mohlala claimed to have evidence that Lefika forged a government document and committed bank fraud to win the contract.
He alleged that the then-Mbombela municipal manager had connived with stadium contractors to steal public money.
He also alleged that there had been corruption relating to housing.
Mohlala was told by the ANC’s leaders for the Ehlanzeni region to resign, but he refused.
Mohlala threatened to file criminal complaints, but was shot dead at his home in Kanyamazane on January 4, 2009, before he could do so.
The housing corruption allegations led to the manager being hauled before a disciplinary hearing.
He was found guilty and sacked in March 2009.
The manager went to the labour court in a bid to overturn his dismissal. City Press reported – and well-placed ANC sources have confirmed – that the party’s Ehlanzeni leaders instructed party councillors to reach a settlement out of court.
The manager was paid R1.5 million in settlement, with the municipality saying it was necessary to do this in order to avoid incurring about R13m in legal fees.
Mohlala’s killer or killers have yet to face the law. Charges against five men arrested after his death were dropped in January.
Police later arrested a Mozambican man, known as Josh, who, it is understood, alleged in an affidavit that a senior ANC politician and a personality in soccer circles had been involved in Mohlala’s death.
At the time, Mpumalanga police questioned him, but later released him, saying they lacked evidence to link him to the crime (see box). – Additional reporting by Lebogang Seale