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Northern Cape government refuses to pay for investigation into fronting scam of farm workers

05/11/2024 01:27:32 PM News

Northern Cape Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform MEC Mase Manopole's department has refused to pay an investigator who uncovered a bogus agri-BEE scam.

Source: X




Sizwe sama Yende


Unscrupulous Northern Cape white farmers stand a chance to avoid consequences for fronting groups of farm labourers in multi-million rand equity share schemes because the government does not want to pay an investigator.

The Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform has launched an appeal in the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal to overturn a Kimberley High Court order to pay R3.7 million to an investigator who unravelled the scam in just one of the 22 equity shares schemes, which intended to turn workers into becoming their own bosses, but eventually failed.

This ambitious initiative was late Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform MEC Joe-Matt Peterson’s brainchild, which was hailed as an economic game changer in rural Northern Cape.

Mpho Sebashe’s company, Morwapheta Consulting Services, investigated affairs of the Badirammogo Trust in 2017 where he found that 45 farm workers were swindled of their 45% shareholding at Sonvrucht Farming and Chargo Trust in Kakamas.

At this crop and livestock farm, the Northern Cape government allocated R36 million for the Agri-BEE (black economic empowerment) deal to benefit 45 labourers. In three years, the workers were expected to take majority shareholding at 51%, but that did not happen.

According to Sebashe’s investigation, the farm owner bought back the shares for about R900 000 collectively or R20 000 per worker three years after the deal was sealed. The government had allocated R800 000 to each worker and those amounts were pooled together to purchase a stake in the farming enterprise.

Farmers involved in all the 22 schemes allegedly used the same modus operandi to swindle both the government and the workers. The total amount the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform spent on this project was close to R1 billion.

The People’s Eye has seen the department’s appeal court papers dated April 15 2024. Departmental head, Moira Marais, argues that the department did not appoint Morwapheta Consulting Services to conduct the investigation.

“One of the main grounds of review by the applicant (the department) was that it had not instructed the respondent (Master of the High Court) to initiate an investigation and to appoint an investigator to do so,” Marais wrote in her affidavit.

Marais said that the majority judges in the Kimberley High Court erred when they relied on minutes of a meeting that took place on June 30 2017 as being indicative that the department instructed the Master of the High Court to appoint Sebashe’s company.

Sebashe said that he was surprised that the government resorted to litigation rather than pay what was due to him.

“I suspect that the department and the Master of the High Court have so far spent more than the amount payable to me for services rendered on legal fees alone – purely to avoid accountability,” he said.

“The government will not implement the recommendations of the report, which says the shares must be returned to the workers, and would rather buy time because they know that my report will have to be implemented. This was a grand scam by farmers to defraud government and regain ownership of their farms,” Sebashe added.

Northern Cape Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform MEC Mase Manopole’s spokesperson, Bongani Silingile, said the department would respond on Monday.

If the department wins the appeal, it will frustrate the farm workers’ search for justice and let the farmers enjoy the loot.

It is unclear at this stage if the Northern Cape government has any intention of helping the farm workers reclaim their life-changing shares in the farming enterprises.

 

 

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