ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula opened a case of crimen injuria at the Sandton Police station against businessman Mthunzi Mdwaba this morning. Mdwaba fingered Mbalula and three other ministers and accused them of trying to solicit a bribe of R500m from his company.

Mdwaba is the chief executive of Thuja Capital, who claimed that three government ministers and the ANC SG attempted to secure a R500 million bribe to secure his company a R5 billion deal with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). Mdwaba claimed three high-ranking government officials approached him to facilitate bribes on behalf of Minister Thulas Nxesi, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande. Mdwaba also mentioned that Luthuli House, through the ANC secretary general's office Fikile Mbalula tried to get its hands on a piece of the pie. Mdwaba said the corrupt ministers demanded 10% of the R5 billion to help him to pull the deal off. The project was for the creation of over 750,000 jobs. Nxesi told parliament last week that the project which was meant to create 750,000 jobs through investment from the UIF as seed capital, was suspended towards the end of last year pending an investigation. The project involved the Department of Labour, UIF and state-owned Productivity SA, which was then chaired by Mdwaba and Thuja Holdings.

Speaking to the media outside the Sandton Police Station, Mbalula denied engaging Mdwaba on the UIF job creation project or being aware of the matter. "Under normal circumstances, we would issue a statement to respond to the allegations. I know Mdwaba like any other South African citizen. He claimed to be a member of the ANC yet I have never seen him at Luthuli House. This man has said that I solicited a bribe from him. I have never had any engagement with this man. I decided to come and open a case against him as the SG of the ruling party and also in my personal capacity. This matter has been on the news for days now and I have to take it up with the law agencies because it is painting the wrong picture. A lot has been said with regards to this matter and after I am done opening a case, I have instructed my lawyers to take this matter up. I have never had any engagement with him with regards to the UIF," Mbalula said.

Mbalula said that the outcome of the investigation into the project makes them believe that they have made the correct decision by suspending the project. "As such, we have saved the country R5 billion. It is the outcome of the investigation that led to the chairperson of Productivity SA being relieved of his duties," he said. Nxesi said the department planned to apply for the legal clarity of the Thuja agreement in court and possibly set it aside. Among the issues raised was that no due diligence had been conducted. In addition, Thuja Capital was freshly registered in December last year when Lamati signed the deal. However, Mdwaba disagreed saying due diligence was conducted, and when it was completed, the project was taken to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) for a second opinion on due diligence. The IDC supported the project, he said, adding that the agency even wrote a letter saying the project resonates with it. "The IDC said, ?We would like to co-invest in Thuja because it resonates with us'. I have the letter. They want me to onboard their companies into my ecosystem, which is a so-called corrupt embezzlement scheme," said Mdwaba. However, the agency also clarified that they could not conduct due diligence on companies they did not fund.