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This office has not taken any decision to decline to prosecute Bernice Swarts in respect of the above case docket. The investigating officer has been requested to conduct further investigation and proceed with the tracing of Andile Mbeki.

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 Sizwe sama Yende

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Public Works and Infrastructure deputy minister, Bernice Swarts, has sent emissaries to negotiate an out of court settlement with a businessman she owes R500 000.

The People’s Eye understands that Swarts’ lawyers have applied in the Pretoria High Court to interdict Tuwani Matthews Mulaudzi and a national newspaper from “slandering” their client. The case is scheduled for April 15.

Mulaudzi confirmed that individuals were sent to negotiate with him to drop a fraud charge against Swarts and former Gauteng Film Commission CEO, Andile Mbeki.

The duo met Mulaudzi at Waterkloof, Pretoria, in 2013 and asked for a donation for the ANC. Mulaudzi paid the money but it did not reach the party for its 2014 elections campaign.

He then laid a fraud charge, but the investigation has not been concluded over the last decade. The docket was lost twice over the years.

RELATED: Deputy minister Bernice Swarts’s fraud case still under investigation - NPA

Swarts’ change of heart comes after a Sunday newspaper reported last week that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute. The NPA has denied this and confirmed that they were still dealing with the matter. 

“This office,” wrote Gauteng Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Marika Janse van Vuuren, “ has not taken any decision to decline to prosecute Bernice Swarts in respect of the above case docket. The investigating officer has been requested to conduct further investigation and proceed with the tracing of Andile Mbeki.”

If the criminal case proceeds, it puts Swarts in a precarious political position with the ANC, which has publicly preached its renewal and a need to purge leaders facing criminal charges. It is however not clear how Swarts has not been asked to step aside as she has been charged.

ANC secretary, Fikile Mbalula, has avoided responding to written questions sent to him.

Swarts’ lawyer, Audrey Okyere, did not comment about the politician’s promises, sent via the emissaries, to pay part of the money over the weekend and finish it on Monday.

RELATED: NPA still pursuing fraud case against deputy minister Bernice Swarts

“Our interdict against Mr. Mulaudzi is based on the fact that he has sent several communications at 04h00 tarnishing our client's name on various platforms,  and our office has received numerous obscene, vulgar and threatening correspondence from him in which he wilfully and intentionally made false, misleading and malicious statements to the firm,” Okyere said.

 “In our interdict, we seek to prevent Mr. Mulaudzi from slandering our client. The Court application still stands,” she added.

 Okyere also threatened to include The People’s Eye in the application if the publication reported on the matter. “Your participation in this matter will be viewed as an extension of the slender against our client, and we will be forced to include you in the application,” Okyere added.

The People’s Eye understands that Mulaudzi relented from his demand of R2 million including interest and settled for R700 000 after meeting the negotiators on Thursday.

As part of the agreement, Swarts would pay R500 000 and withdraw her court application. Mulaudzi would then withdraw the criminal charge. Swarts reneged on the agreement and her people said they would pay on Monday. They however did not withdraw the court application.

Mulaudzi said that Swarts’ team was negotiating in bad faith as they had failed to honour even one of their promises.

“It’s a trap I will not fall into. They want to pay on Monday but they are not withdrawing the court application, which is scheduled for Monday. What will happen is that if I allow this and relax … Monday comes, they go to court and get a default judgement to gag me,” Mulaudzi said.

The ANC has failed to resolve this matter for five years now. Voluminous WhatsApp messages indicate that Mulaudzi’s reported the matter to ANC chief whip, Pemmy Majodina, former Speaker of Parliament, Thandi Modise, the Integrity Commission and Luthuli House.

Even though Swarts admitted the debt to Majodina who, in turn promised to forward the matter to the ANC, nothing has happened.