In For A Zweli, In For A Pound

Questions keep rolling in over a succession of dodgy loans involving former KZN premier and his wife.

- Jonathan Erasmus

KZN premIer dr ZwelI Mkhize signed a lucrative lease agreement with a KZN business-man who had given Mkhize’s wife Dr May Mashego two R1-million interest-free loans.

Evidence leaked to Noseweek shows how businessman and property developer Protus Sokhela secured a three-year R10.9m property lease with the provincial Treasury (when Zweli Mkhize was KZN MEC for finance) after having made two payments of exactly R1m each to a company of which his wife May is the sole director. Mkhize became KZN ANC chairperson in mid-2008, around the time the deal was being concluded, and became the province’s premier in 2009.

A medical doctor by profession, Mkhize has held on to some of the most senior positions in the ANC both provincially and nationally. As recently as December 2017 he was in the race for the ANC presidency.

The lease, signed in 2008 is a matter of public record. KZN Department of Public Works spokesman Mbulelo Baloyi said it had covered a period of three years, with effect from 1 August 2009. “The total rental paid was R10,966,124.94. The commencement rental was R75/m² and R350 per day.” Although Baloyi said that the lease was signed on 23 December 2008, further evidence shows this date was merely administrative; the deal was concluded months earlier.

A clear case of conflict-of-interest arises from the fact that less than two years earlier, on 12 March 2007, Essential Equity CC, owned by May Mkhize, entered into a loan agreement with Sirela Trading CC, owned by Protus Sokhela, for a soft loan of R1,000,000. A very soft loan. The loan terms, signed by both May and Sokhela, were as follows: