Mkhize defends receiving payments from Edwin Sodi for ‘personal benefit’

Health minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize has defended claims that he received payments for his ‘personal benefit’ after businessman Edwin Sodi revealed that he made a payment of R6,5 million which referenced the Minister.

Sodi had told the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture on Tuesday that he made payments to the African National Congress (ANC) and other government officials.

He defended the payment saying that Mkhize was the ANC treasurer general (TG) at the time of the payment and the money was specifically for the party.

Mkhize acknowledged the payments made, but explained that the payments were donations for the ANC, not for personal benefit.

“I wish to categorically state I have never received any funds from Mr Sodi, either personally or through a third party intended for my personal benefit.

“I can confirm that during my tenure as the ANC treasurer general, Mr Sodi, just like many other business persons, companies and organizations made donations to the ANC.

“In fact, when I took over as the TG, Mr Sodi’s contacts were available in the ANC donors database as one of the people who had previously donated to the ANC.

“This database was compiled and kept by the finance office through various public fundraising events that the ANC held. That is how we would contact people or companies and invite them to our events,” he in a statement on Friday.

Mkhize said Sodi made the donations to the ANC either directly or through his entities during his tenure as the party’s TG.

“The information has been verified with the ANC finance office today [Friday] that Mr Sodi donated R3 million on 28 February 2014, R3.5 million on 3 April 2014, R1.5 million on 29 Sept 2015 and R 150,000 on 08 January 2016.

The minister further clarified that the payments were deposited to the ANC’s bank accounts.

“I once again state categorically that the above payments were deposited directly into ANC’s official bank accounts, I therefore can only assume that the name Zweli Mkhize was used by the donor as a reference, given my capacity at the time as the treasurer general.

“Furthermore, I wish to emphasise that all the donations we received made voluntary, they were never transactional or linked to securing work from government.”

He added that he had no personal, professional or business relationship with Sodi during his tenure.

“I have never been party to any of his business dealings nor have I interacted with him at a personal level.”

Mkhize noted that the Democratic Alliance (DA)  statement that it will report him to parliament because of the donations.

“In the process of doing so, it would assist the DA to make an attempt to properly understand the rules of parliament.

“At the time the ANC received these donations, I was the treasurer general, with the specific role of raising funds for my organisation. I was not a member of parliament and in any event did not benefit directly from these donations from Mr Sodi.

“Therefore there is no parliamentary requirement for me to declare all the donations that were received by the ANC during my tenure as TG.

“It is also worth mentioning that where unlawfulness and wrong-doing has been found, the law enforcement agencies must investigate this. Matters relating to Mr Sodi and his companies are now before the courts.

“This legal process should therefore be allowed to run its course without being muddied by mischief and misinformation that drags individuals names, where there is no evidence.”

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