Zuma's man allegedly tried to bribe evidence leader

New State Security Minister Bongani Bongo is accused of offering a bribe, in a form of ‘blank cheque’, to the evidence leader of Parliament’s state capture inquiry, Advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara. A Sunday Times report says Vanara made the allegation in a sworn statement submitted to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, who has referred the matter to Parliament’s Joint Ethics Committee. Omie Singh, co-chair of the Ethics Committee, is due to meet Vanara tomorrow before tabling the matter to a full sitting of the body that monitors the ethical conduct of MPs and Cabinet Ministers. The report notes Bongo has not denied or confirmed offering a bribe to Vanara, saying only that he’s requested Parliament to send him a copy of the affidavit so that he can ‘consider his legal options’. The report adds that shortly after his appointment in October, it emerged that the Commercial Crime Fighting Unit at the Hawks was investigating Bongo for, among other things, receiving a R300 000 kickback from government service providers while he served as the head of legal service in the Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements. The Sunday Times last week also alleged a R1.5m kickback was paid by the same government service providers into the bank account of Bongo’s wife.

If Vanara’s claims are true, this was Bongo’s second attempt to block the investigation into state capture. Last month he led a delegation of ANC MPs who went to Luthuli House to plead with party bosses to call off the probe. Bongo was a backbencher who joined Parliament in 2014. However, says the Sunday Times report, he has recently emerged as one of President Jacob Zuma’s henchmen. He was one of the MPs who worked tirelessly to convince other ANC parliamentarians not to vote with the opposition in the last vote of no confidence in Zuma. Insiders said Vanara claimed that Bongo offered him a blank cheque at a meeting in the Minister’s parliamentary office. Bongo is said to have asked Vanara to ‘name his price’. It is understood that Vanara did not decline or accept the offer but immediately prepared a sworn statement which he submitted to his bosses, secretary to the National Assembly Masibulele Xaso and the acting secretary to Parliament Baby Tyawa. Xaso and Tyawa then escalated the matter to Mbete.

Full Sunday Times report (subscription needed)

The DA says it plans to lay criminal charges and lodge a complaint with the Public Protector. ‘In addition to the committee’s investigation we will be laying criminal charges of corruption against Minister Bongo in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act... and will also be lodging a formal complaint with the Public Protector to investigate Bongo’s alleged violation of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act, a DA statement read, according to a report on the IoL site. ‘The latest allegations of corruption against Bongo suggest that he has tried to actively collapse the state capture inquiry by offering Advocate Vanara a bribe to resign as evidence leader in the probe into allegations of state capture at Eskom,’ the party said. ‘If proved to be true, these allegations served as the basis for criminal charges to be pursued and they further amounted to a gross violation of the provisions of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act and the associated Executive Ethics Code which, among others, prohibited Ministers from using their position to enrich themselves or improperly benefit any other person, and required that Ministers fulfil all obligations imposed upon them by the Constitution and law.’

Full IoL report