The state capture commission chair, chief justice Raymond Zondo, has shared that he finds the evidence presented by Bo Mbindwane hard to believe. Mbindwane, a former adviser to Fikile Mbalula when he was police minister, is in the mud for pushing for the procurement of a R45m listening device for crime intelligence.
The grabber, Zondo found, was being procured from a dodgy company that was under investigation by the inspector-general of intelligence (IGI).
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But when Mbindwane at the time met with then IGI Dr Setlhomamaru Dintwe, he failed to divulge the name of the company, thus concealing crucial information.
The grabber was allegedly going to be used for clandestine spying at the ANC Nasrec conference in December 2017, where Mbalula was Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s leading lobbyist.
Mbindwane conceded in the affidavit he submitted to the commission that Mbalula knew of his meeting with Dintwe where the grabber was the subject of the discussions.
According to Mbindwane, it was irrelevant for him to divulge the company to Dintwe, as whatever it was investigated for had nothing to do with the grabber.
Zondo was not convinced, saying the former adviser desperately tried to justify the awarding of the contract to a shady company: “Mr Mbindwane’s response is startling. Dr Dintwe’s gripe was that Mr Mbindwane did not tell him of the identity of the intended supplier of the grabber.
“Had the identity been revealed to him, Dr Dintwe would have realised the company was already under investigation by Ipid and OIGI, and he would not have been comfortable with that company being given the contract.”
The chief justice found it puzzling that Mbindwane admitted he knew the company was under investigation but not for the grabber and thus irrelevant for Dintwe’s attention.
Zondo pointed out how Mbindwane refused to refer to the device as a “grabber” but rather opts to call it “the listed equipment”.
Dintwe had told the commission during hearings that Mbindwane had told him “there was a group of backpackers who wanted to influence the outcome of the Nasrec conference.
“He told me they were in need of grabbers to the tune of R210m. However, because the date was too close they could settle for one grabber to the tune of R45m. He explained the capabilities and said ‘do not be surprised that it is so expensive because an ordinary grabber costs around R7m’,” Dintwe had testified.
Mbindwane told Zondo this was untrue.
“There was no vote-buying or attempt to do so by myself or Mr Mbalula or any SA Police Service leadership relating to the ANC conference in Nasrec.
“The story of vote-buying by Ipid and IGI was and still is political dirty tricks campaign aimed at disrupting SAPS and destabilising it.”
Mbindwane never appeared at the commission for oral evidence but submitted an affidavit late, an act Zondo slammed him for, saying the affidavit was in any event mostly containing issues that were irrelevant to the evidence implicating Mbindwane.
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