Vytjie Mentor ‘dares’ Gwede Mantashe

In the wake of reports on Sunday that ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe is planning to sue former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor, she took to Facebook to challenge him.

She wrote on Sunday afternoon: “Dear Gwede, let’s see if you will win this one.”

It was reported in City Press on Sunday that Mantashe had “launched a legal battle to stave off allegations that he was an indirect beneficiary of an Eskom tender contract”.

In April, Mentor claimed his wife’s company had received a multimillion-rand Eskom catering tender when it was led by “Gupta stooges”.

Mentor wrote that she did not trust Mantashe and alleged the SG benefited from his access to power and the influence of the Guptas.

She claimed his deputy, Jessie Duarte, a consistent Jacob Zuma defender, also benefited.

Mentor alleged that Mantashe’s wife, Nolwandle, had made money through her business associations out of Eskom catering contracts, and that this had links back to the Guptas.

A Sunday Times report in 2014 had revealed that Eskom awarded a five-year catering contract to provide workers with hot meals and fresh fruit juice worth R639 million to a company called RoyalMnandi Duduza.

RoyalMnandi, the paper reported, is part of the Bidvest group, of which Mantashe’s wife is a director.

Another company received an even bigger catering tender, bringing the total to R1.4 billion.

Mentor, apparently conflating the two tenders in her Facebook post in April, wrote: “The other reason I refused to go to Luthuli House on the Gupta State Capture matter is because Gwede’s wife has been given a five-year catering contract of R1.4 billion by the same Eskom that was led by Brian Molefe and other Guptas stooges.

“And Jessie Duarte’s ‘enstranged’ husband does huge contracts with Eskom too, when her son is a close friend and business partner of the son another Gupta controlled woman [sic] that sits on the Eskom Board.

“Gwede is a beneficiary of Gupta appointed Board members of Eskom through his wife. Why do South Africans expect him to save South Africa from the rot?”

Mantashe’s wife is also the CEO of Tamborah Resources, which in 2014 stated its goal was to be a “long-term supplier of all power station coal to the national power utility”.

Nolwandle Mantashe confirmed at the time that Tamborah Resources was in the market to sell coal to Eskom, but added, as quoted by the Mail & Guardian: “I do not rely on political connections to do business but on capable black and white people.

“I really do not have an interest in politics but I enjoy the political environment and economic transformation agenda in South Africa because it enables us to compete fairly.”

City Press wrote that Mentor can now expect a summons from Mantashe in which he will be claiming damages from her.

She wrote last week on her Facebook page in relation to legal threats from Mantashe: “I don’t play with bullies like him. I chew them to pieces and spit them out vociferously.”

Mantashe continues to deny any foul play on his part, particularly that he used his relationship with former Eskom acting CEO Matshela Koko to benefit his wife. He denies even knowing Koko and has taken exception to “things being said” about his wife on social media.

Mantashe was further quoted as saying: “She [Mentor] must explain and we must stop playing.”