NO STING IN THE TAIL...YET: One year after IDT boss ‘bribe’ sting, no arrests or prosecutions

It has been more than a year since Daily Maverick’s explosive video ‘sting’ captured former Independent Development Trust CEO Tebogo Malaka and the organisation’s spokesperson offering this journalist a cash ‘bribe’ in exchange for dropping an investigation into Malaka’s financial dealings with an IDT contractor. Despite the clear video evidence, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority are yet to act.

A year has gone by with no arrests or prosecutions following a Daily Maverick video “sting” showing former Independent Development Trust (IDT) CEO Tebogo Malaka and ex-IDT spokesperson Phasha Makgolane offering this journalist a bag of cash containing R60,000.

The alleged cash bribe offer, together with earlier promises of lucrative IDT contracts, were made in relation to a Daily Maverick investigation into Malaka’s financial dealings with Gauteng businessperson Collen Mashawana.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), or the Hawks, and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) are pursuing two separate investigations.

A DPCI team from Cape Town is investigating the alleged bribe offer, since the recorded meeting took place at a wine farm near Stellenbosch.

The other probe is assigned to investigators from Gauteng and deals with Mashawana’s involvement in a new house Malaka was building inside Gauteng’s upmarket Waterfall Country Estate.

Daily Maverick has learnt that there is considerable frustration among some stakeholders involved in the probes, specifically in regard to the investigation into the alleged bribe attempt.

“This is a prosecutor-guided investigation, but it is on the NPA’s side where things are stalling. We could have locked up the suspects two or three months ago, but the NPA doesn’t seem to want to act on the evidence already at their disposal,” claimed one source who spoke to us on condition of anonymity.

NPA spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, however, denied that the prosecution body is dragging its feet.

“It is not possible. We only get involved when the Hawks have finished their investigation. Our job is to consider the evidence and then decide if we should prosecute or not.”

Kganyago said there was a team from the NPA working with the Hawks and that the matter was in a “volatile state”. Kganyago didn’t want to commit to a possible timeline for wrapping up the probe.

The Hawks indicated that it had made significant progress on the probe into the alleged bribery.

“The matter is currently in an advanced stage of investigation between our investigator and the Special Commercial Crimes Unit’s appointed advocate,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Riaan Morris, section commander for the Hawks’ Commercial Crimes Investigations unit.

Morris said the Hawks will communicate further progress with the case on 18 September.