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I wish [Comrade] Bernice could have cooperated. This matter could have been resolved amicably. She blocked my number too and I made peace with the fact that I lost someone I thought was a friend.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has set its eyes on former Gauteng Film Commission CEO and businessman, Andile Mbeki, as prosecutors try to revive R2million fraud case against a deputy minister.

Mbeki is considered a key witness in a complaint lodged by businessman, Tuwani Matthews Mulaudzi, against deputy minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Bernice Swarts.

Swarts and Mbeki, according to Mulaudzi, approached him in 2013 at Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria, and asked for a donation on behalf of the ANC for the 2014 elections. Mulaudzi deposited R500 000 in an ABSA account, which he later realised was Swarts’ personal account when he got wind that the donation did not reach the ANC’s coffers.

Mulaudzi said he recalled that the bank account details were given to him on ANC letterheads and he could not, therefore, immediately pick up that something was amiss.

He has been trying to reclaim the money for over a decade and has approached ANC chief whip, Pemmy Majodina, former speaker of Parliament, Thandi Modise, the police at Sunnyside in Pretoria and the ANC’s Integrity Commission. The People’s Eye has seen the voluminous trail of WhatsApp exchanges.

The police, said Mulaudzi, claimed to have lost the docket twice during this period. It may, however, seem that Mulaudzi is now getting attention from the NPA after he has relentlessly pursued them for answers about lack of progress in his case.

The People’s Eye has seen correspondence dated February 29 2024 in which Gauteng’s director of public prosecutions, Advocate Marika Janse Van Vuuren, told Mulaudzi that the police could not trace Mbeki.

 “The suspect, Andile Mbeki, cannot be traced at this stage and the search for him will continue. Once he has been traced, a final decision will be made,” Janse Van Vuuren wrote. “Please inform the investigating officer of any information you may have about the whereabouts of Mr Mbeki,” she added.

Mulaudzi responded: “Unfortunately I can't be of any further assistance (as you have requested in your letter) as I have no police capabilities. I am certain we now have no choice but to deal with the main and in my view, the only suspect, whose whereabouts we know, being the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.”

Mbeki claimed in an SMS to The People’s Eye that he missed our call and asked to be called back. When we did, he did not answer his cellphone. Written questions were sent to him via SMS and WhatsApp, but he still did not answer.

In an old WhatsApp mea culpa, Mbeki told ANC provincial executive committee in Gauteng that Swarts had blocked him. “I wish [Comrade] Bernice could have cooperated. This matter could have been resolved amicably. She blocked my number too and I made peace with the fact that I lost someone I thought was a friend. Mulaudzi warned me that Bernice had bad intentions from the onset and was threat to my reputation,” Mbeki wrote.

He added: “However, those revelations came way later when they were both fighting and accusing me of not having done a thorough due diligence and background checks before introducing them to each other. I wish she would have known that the delaying tactics would finally catch up with her.”

Mulaudzi said that the amount had accumulated to R2million due to interest.

When approached for comment by this reporter last year, Swarts responded through her lawyers who dismissed the fact that there was a case reported to the police or the ANC.

The lawyers also accused the reporter of having an ulterior motive to extort money from whoever for unlawfully intimidating and harassing Swarts.

“Further, these allegations have not been reported or investigated by any police station. As a result, there is no docket on the matter. Also, there is no pending investigation on these allegations by the police, and the same has never been raised with the ANC and neither has your client instituted civil legal proceedings to recover what you regard to be very important allegations,” the lawyers said.

“The purpose of this correspondence is to raise our concerns and objections to what we deem to be your unethical and unprofessional conduct as a journalist, in that you are always using these unsubstantiated allegations to harass and intimidate our client merely because you have access and power to unlawfully defame her good name and character through your publication.”