‘Outa’s evidence based on false charges,’ says Mabuza’s office on R35bn ‘land scam’ claims

Deputy President David Mabuza’s office has dismissed allegations of his involvement in a R35 billion “land claims scam”.

This week, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) submitted evidence to the NPA’s Investigating Directorate. The evidence allegedly implicates 13 people, including Mabuza, as well as two businesses in an alleged R35 billion land restitution scam and the killing of wildlife to generate income in Mpumalanga.

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Outa asked for Mabuza and his co-accused to be charged under the umbrella offence of contravening section 2(1) of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA).

Some of the offences under the Act include theft, fraud, perjury, extortion and conspiracy among others.

This is not the first so-called land claim scam that has surfaced after conservationist and whistle-blower Fred Daniel exposed the scandal back in 2002.

‘False criminal charges’

The evidence in Outa’s affidavit comes from court records in Daniel’s 12-year legal battle against the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency and others in the Pretoria High Court, over the loss of his 39 000 hectare nature reserve.

The case was filed in 2010 and finally went to trial in August 2021.

While Mabuza is not part of the litigation, Outa insists that the deputy president was allegedly connected to the organised crime.

But the Presidency has denied this and pointed out that Daniel’s previous applications filed against Mabuza had been rejected.

“The judicial system has found him to be a dishonest litigant who takes advantage of the system,” Mabuza’s spokesperson, Matshepo Seedat, said in a statement on Wednesday.

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Seedat argued that Outa’s complaint to the NPA was based on “false criminal charges” and criticised the organisation for attempting to discredit the deputy president “in order to further their own nefarious goals”.

“The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation [Hawks] and the Specialised Commercial Court prosecutors declined to prosecute anyone because of the false charges. Similarly, the allegations in this complaint are completely false and without merit,” she said.

“In the current civil litigation brought by Mr Daniel, the deputy president is not even a respondent in his personal capacity. Records of the civil case are available for anyone to see how Mr. Daniel has been exposed for who he is.”

See Outa’s complaint below:

Seedat further pointed out that Mabuza has repeatedly called on the relevant authorities to investigate him if hard evidence indeed implicated him in wrongdoing.

“On countless occasions, including before Parliament, the deputy president has maintained that if anyone has any evidence of wrongdoing on his part, they should bring the case to the attention of the appropriate law enforcement agencies. The deputy president stands by this statement and is not naive about the true motives of the complaint,” she continued.

Additional reporting by Sipho Mabena