Makhubo denies he was paid to influence COJ tenders
Johannesburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo has denied that millions of rands in donations to the ANC Greater Johannesburg region and to his own company Molelwane was meant to influence the city's tender process to its benefit.
At the time these payments were made, Makhubo was the treasurer of the African National Congress (ANC in Johannesburg.
EOH group that specializes in technology systems was tendering and proposing a network infrastructure upgrade to the city in 2014.
An employee of EOH Patrick Makhubedu, who is also a friend and business partner of Makhubo, sent several emails to him, including a tender proposal, invoices, and a draft letter of the award to the tender.
This was sent in the same period that Makhubo sent him a letter requesting funding of over R500 000 for the ruling party's youth league conference in Johannesburg which was paid by EOH.
Makhubo told the commission he did not make anything of the emails at the time because he was not involved in the tenders.
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He claimed to have ignored the emails.
Makhubo denied any link between EOH's payments to the ANC, his company Molelwane and the tenders.
"I wrote a letter to the executive director at EOH, and it was not a hidden thing, I was subjected to the EOH processes.... well, it was a private matter between the organisation and the party at the time because only now was the political funding bill was passed, but before then, who knows who funded the DA in the Western Cape? Who knows who funded other parties?
"If you asked anyone, I talked to during my tenure you would know that I never sold any tenders because I was not involved in any tender. The reason for me to ask for money from people I know or any businessperson who is willing to fund the ANC, some of them would volunteer and I would write them letters. There was no causal link between that and any tender in the city. Whether you win the tender or not does not depend on whether you fund the ANC or not," said Makhubo
He added that there are many companies that do business with the City of Joburg but do not fund the ANC, he said this does not work against them.
Evidence leader, Advocate Mathew Chaskalson, read out from a document that was proof that Makhubo deposited R80 000 to Molelwane from a company called Mfundi Mobile.
But Makhubo said the money was paid to ensure Molelwane paid salaries due to cashflow problems.
Many more payments were made into Molelwane including R100 000 and meanwhile, the documents also show that EOH would meet with Makhubo whenever it had issues at the City of Joburg involving tenders.
Makhubo told the commission this was normal, he said he would meet with companies to discuss issues, he also said he would talk to Makhubedu often whenever he needed advice because they were friends since 2012.
