Shabalala's wife, Ntombenhle, has emerged as a director of Skyros Medical Supplies, a company owned by Gaston Savoi.

According to the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office, the Port Elizabeth-based company was registered in April 2004, the same date that Ntombenhle was appointed a director.

This week, Shabalala, who heads the province's development bank, Ithala Development Finance Corporation, declined to disclose whether any government tenders had been awarded to Skyros Medical Supplies during his tenure as provincial treasury head.

On Thursday, Shabalala and his lawyer, John Wills, declined to answer several other questions by Business Times. These include:

ýHow much influence did the fact that Shabalala's wife was Savoi's business partner in another of Savoi's companies (Intaka Tech) play in awarding the businessman a R44.5-million tender to supply water purification plants to the KZN Health Department in 2007?

ýDid he declare in the legislature that his wife was a director of Savoi's company?

A dossier compiled by the DA and containing "serious allegations" against Shabalala will be submitted to ANC president Jacob Zuma's office.

This comes as the Hawks last month launched an investigation into allegations that Shabalala convinced Savoi to give the ANC R1-million in return for a tender to supply water purification plants to the province's Health Department.

"The allegations are indeed very serious," said John Steenhuisen, the DA's provincial caucus chairman. He declined to go into detail.

In an affidavit, Savoi stated: "In the initial stages when Dr Savoi met Mr Shabalala, Mr Shabalala raised a question of a donation to the party, which Dr Savoi understood to be the ANC. Dr Savoi did not pursue the matter at the time. When Intaka finally received payment (for supplying the water purification plants), Dr Savoi asked Mr Shabalala about the issue of a donation to the party, which had been originally raised at the onset of the initial discussions in KZN.

"Mr Shabalala informed Dr Savoi that Intaka would be sent an invoice against which he should make payment."

Savoi, according to the affidavit, received an invoice from a firm of lawyers for R1-million for work rendered. The work included "taking instructions, telephone calls, correspondence, drafting of contracts, consultations, attending meetings, drafting legal opinions, and miscellaneous attendances for the period 2003 to 2006".

However, Savoi stated that the law firm had never rendered any legal services for his company.