Nxesi heads to court to cancel R5bn UIF project, denies bribery claims

The project has been marred by bribery allegations brought by businessman and Thuja CEO Mthunzi Mdwaba.

Mdwaba alleged that Nxesi, two other cabinet ministers and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula demanded a R500 million bribe from him.

Nxesi on Thursday broke his silence on the allegations.

According to Mdwaba, the deal failed after he refused to pay a bribe.

The agreement was signed in December 2022 by former director-general of the Department of Employment and Labour, Thobile Lamati.

The project was aimed at funding job creation, allegedly assisting the UIF in creating employment at an initial aggregating cost of R5 billion.

Nxesi said in January 2023, acting director-general Mzie Yawa informed Mdwaba that the agreement was unlawful as the project had to be first approved by the labour and finance ministers.

"I heard of this agreement only through media reports. The media raised several concerns about the process followed and the capacity of Thuja to deliver on the signed agreement.

"Following initial probing, I established that approvals by the UIF governance processes, including the interim Labour Activation Programme National Adjudication Committee, were not obtained and consequently instructed the accounting officer, in January 2023, to suspend the implementation of the project, and to stop any contemplated payments to Thuja.

"Today, acting as the Executive Authority of DEL, I signed my affidavit, and we are filing a court application to set this agreement aside."

Nxesi also denied the bribery allegations.

"Mdwaba's allegations of seeking bribes against myself and others are false and unsupported by any actual evidence. Let me be clear: I categorically deny these recent allegations of corruption. Mdwaba will now have to prove these allegations in a court of law."

He says the businessman is bitter after he failed to disclose that he was declared a delinquent director.

"The source of Mdwaba's bitterness towards me personally dates back to his failed attempt to secure the position of Director General of the International Labour Organisation when the government withdrew its support for his candidature after it emerged that he failed to disclose that the South African courts had declared him to be a delinquent director.

"Government was also made aware of a court judgment in the Western Cape that had found that Mdwaba is a lawbreaker, was not an honest witness and lacked the elementary attributes of good leadership for the position he held at the University of the Western Cape as chairperson of council."

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