17 October 2016 Ms Busisiwe Mkhwebane South African Public Protector National Offices of the Public Protector 175 Lunnon Street HILLCREST PARK 0083

Ms Winnie Manyathela Provincial Representative: Gauteng Gauteng Offices of the Public Protector Lara’s Place 187 Bree Street Cnr Bree and Rissik Street JOHANNESBURG 2000

Dear Mss Mkhwebane and Manyathela

AFRIFORUM REQUESTS INVESTIGATION BY PUBLIC PROTECTOR

AfriForum hereby requests an investigation by the offices of the Public Protector into the finances of Mokone Collen Maine, ANC Youth League President, with regards to a property purchased at the conclusion of 2015 for the amount of R5 400 000.00 (Five Million Four Hundred Thousand Rand), with an additional sum of R1 080 000.00 (One Million and Eighty Thousand Rand). The property is situated in Woodhill Residential Estate and Country Club in Pretoria East.

AfriForum requests an investigation into:

 The legality of the process followed by Maine in obtaining a mortgage bond from the Bank of India.  The fact that the Bank of India does not approve home loans, but in this case it was granted.  A full investigation into Maine’s financial status as he is legally bound to pay a monthly amount of R136 665.00 (One Hundred and Thirty Six Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty-Five Rand).  The legality of the mortgage bond that was approved by the Bank of India. Maine states that the bond is down payable over a 20 year term, while the contract mortgage bond clearly states it is down payable over a 48 month period.  The legality of the approval of the mortgage bond by the Registrar of Deeds.  The influence of the Gupta family during the process.

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AfriForum stated its concern in April 2016. Kindly find attached a publication from ForumNuus (Annexure A). At that stage AfriForum could not find sufficient evidence to lay a complaint. An article that was published in City Press (Annexure B), together with a copy of the signed mortgage bond (Annexure C), clearly give reason for suspicion and investigation.

Kind regards Henk Maree National Spokesperson Tel: 012 644 3923 Cell: 083 280 2470 Email: henk@afriforum.co.za Fax: 012 664 1281

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Annexure A Só lyk ANC Jeugliga-president se omstrede huis in spogwoonbuurt in Pretoria

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77916 April 5, 2016 deur Jhua-nine Wyrley-Birch

Talle vrae en bewerings hang om die kop van Mokone Collen Maine, president van die ANC Jeugliga, wat onlangs groot media-aandag op homself gevestig het toe dit aan die lig gekom het dat hy ’n huis van R5,4 miljoen in die Woodhill-landgoed in Pretoria gekoop het. Daar is baie vrae oor hoe die relatiewe onbekende Maine, wat glo tussen R30 000 en R50 000 per maand verdien, ’n lening vir so ’n duur huis kon kry. En dit boonop van die Bank of India.

Maine is in September verlede jaar tot president van die ANC Jeugliga verkies. Sy verkiesing het die wenkbroue laat lig aangesien hy vir dié posisie “gekwalifiseer” het ’n maand voor die afsny-ouderdom vir jeugligalede. In Suid-Afrika word mense van 35 jaar en ouer nie meer as jeugdiges gereken nie.

Maine was voor sy aanstelling LUR vir plaaslike regering en huisvesting in Noordwes.

Uit ’n ondersoek deur die Forum Nuus-verslagspan die afgelope weke blyk dit dat daar steeds meer vrae as antwoorde is oor hoe Maine die huis bekom het of daarvoor kon kwalifiseer. VolgensForum Nuus se inligting is ’n “korporatiewe lening” aan Maine en sy vrou, Kelebogile Patience, deur die Bank of India toegestaan.

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Volgens die bank word korporatiewe lenings toegestaan vir die finansiering van die opstel van ’n onderneming se infrastruktuur, om bedryfskapitaal vereistes na te kom asook vir in- en uitvoergeriewe.

Henk Maree, nasionale woordvoerder van AfriForum, meen daar moet ondersoek ingestel word na wat se soort onderneming Maine vanuit Woodhill, ’n residensiële gebied, gaan of wil bedryf. Forum Nuus het tydens sy ondersoek vasgestel dat daar boonop op die oomblik verder aan die eiendom gebou word. “Daar moet ook vasgestel word hoekom Maine ook van die Bank of India en nie enige ander Suid-Afrikaanse bank gebruik gemaak het nie.”

Hy meen Maine se voorkeur vir die Bank of India laat ernstige vrae ontstaan of dit enigsins verband hou met sy deurlopende verdediging van die omstrede Gupta-familie se sakebedrywighede in die land en hul verbintenis met pres. Jacob Zuma.

Maine was onder meer in die nuus nadat hy verskeie kere vir Zuma in die bresse getree het. Hy het onder meer in Februarie gesê die ANC-jeugliga sal “bloed vergiet” en “ ’n burgeroorlog verklaar” as die EFF Zuma se staatsrede ontwrig.

Hy het ook gesê die ANC-jeugliga sal nie toelaat dat Julius Malema en “sy ape” Suid-Afrika in ’n piesangrepubliek verander nie.

Die DA-jeug het in reaksie op dié uitlatings geëis dat die Menseregtekommissie (MRK) Maine ondersoek.

Maree het gesê Suid-Afrikaners sal ook baie graag wil weet hoe iemand soos Maine so ’n luukse huis kan bekostig terwyl talle van die maatskappye waarby hy vroeër betrokke was intussen gederegistreer is. Die maatskappye sluit in Mokone Mokgoloko Consulting, Mokone Mokgoloko Projects, Southern Ambition 285, Sekukune Trading en Sign en Seal Trading 193.

Ondersoeke na wat die dienste, produkte of aard van die ondernemings was, het weinig opgelewer behalwe dat dit “konsultasiedienste vir lewer ou en nuwe ondernemings is”.

AfriForum gaan die Openbare Beskermer versoek om ondersoek in te stel of enige belastinggeld deur Maine gebruik is om ’n persoonlike eiendom te bekom.

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Maine was voordat hy LUR in Noordwes geword het, ook lid van die Nasionale Vergadering waar hy op verskeie komitees gedien het.

Morné Mostert, nasionale woordvoerder van AfriForum Jeug, het gesê Maine se loopbaan getuig nie van veel sukses nie en wat hy bereik het is aanduidend van wat in die toekoms van hom verwag kan word. “As dit die manier is hoe hy handel en optree, gaan sy strukture onder hom dieselfde prestasies lewer.”

Maine kon nie vir kommentaar bereik word nie.

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Annexure B

Evidence suggests that ANC Youth League president Collen Maine received a generous helping hand from the Gupta family to afford his swanky golf estate home

ANC Youth League boss Collen Maine’s bond on his swanky golf estate home requires him to pay a whopping R140 000 a month.

And while he refuses to say how he affords it, the evidence suggests the Guptas have lent a helping hand.

Maine and his wife, Kelebogile, bought the R5.4 million property east of Pretoria last October, six weeks after he was elected league president.

Maine has publicly defended the influential family a number of times – earning him the epithet “that Gupta-controlled Oros [man]” from Economic Freedom Fighters deputy leader Floyd Shivambu on Twitter.

But he insisted this week he was independent of the Guptas. “I was dealing with those issues as a matter of principle, not that I have anything to do with them.”

Maine’s double-storey, triple-garage home is set on a large, manicured erf in the Woodhill Residential Estate and Country Club. It backs on to the greens of an 18-hole championship golf course.

The homeowners’ association board has included luminaries such as Gautrain boss Jack van der Merwe and Deloitte chief financial officer Chris Beukman.

A person with direct knowledge of the sale, speaking on condition of anonymity, told amaBhungane this week that Maine had originally submitted a cash offer, meaning the purchase was not dependent on him raising a bond.

A cash buyer usually has a limited period to come up with the money or a bank guarantee, well before the transfer is registered. In this instance, the source said, Pretoria lawyer Abdul Jaffer remitted the full R5.4 million, saying it came from the Bank of India.

Jaffer has often acted for the Gupta family. Company registration records show he was the original director of a number of their companies, indicating that he helped to register them.

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The Guptas asked Jaffer to help, he said, and the bond registration was done by a conveyancer known to Jaffer, Shamsoodeen Omar.

Deeds office records confirm a Bank of India bond covering the full R5.4 million purchase price was registered to Collen and Kelebogile Maine in mid- December, with Omar as conveyancer.

Omar, who, according to deeds records, has done previous bond registrations for properties related to the Guptas, referred queries to Jaffer. This week Jaffer did not deny his firm’s involvement in the sale, but would not discuss details, citing client confidentiality. IT’S HAPPENED BEFORE

The Guptas have previously been involved in property purchases involving connected people, including:

. In 2012, amaBhungane and the Mail & Guardian revealed a Gupta hand behind First Lady Bongi Ngema-Zuma’s R3.84 million bond from India’s Bank of Baroda. A Gupta family spokesperson denied it at the time, but last month City Press revealed board minutes of a Gupta company agreeing to guarantee the loan. Like Maine’s, Ngema- Zuma’s loan was accelerated – in her case to five years – and was handled by Omar’s conveyancing firm.

. In 2006, a Gupta company bought then Cabinet minister Essop Pahad’s Birdhaven, Johannesburg, home from him for R5 million, although neighbours said he continued to live there. Again, Omar was the conveyancer. Pahad would not comment.

. In 2014, the Mail & Guardian and amaBhungane revealed that Siyabonga Mahlangu, then outgoing adviser to Minister Malusi Gigaba, agreed to buy the same home from the Guptas. He paid R5 million in 2015, according to deed records.

. Mabengela Investments, a company co-owned by the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma, bought a R4 million Saxonwold property, using a Bank of Baroda bond, in March 2009, not long before Jacob Zuma was inaugurated as president. Duduzane lived there.

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The bond document, obtained by amaBhungane, raises questions about how Maine can afford his new house, because:

 Rather than the standard 20 years, the repayment term is four years. This more than doubles the monthly instalments – an unusual choice for anyone who may be stretched financially;  The bond document says the initial monthly instalment is R135 665. At the interest rate of prime plus 1.5% specified by the document, this will now be about R142 000 a month;  Using the affordability measure that home loan repayments may not exceed 30% of gross income, Collen and Kelebogile Maine should have jointly earned at least R450 000 a month before tax to have qualified for the loan – unless a third party bound themselves as security; and  R450 000 is roughly double President Jacob Zuma’s monthly paycheck.

In his former job as North West local government and human settlements MEC, Maine grossed a maximum of about R152 000 a month.

His current ANC salary is likely to be considerably less.

Kelebogile Maine’s current occupation could not be established before going to press. She previously worked for the National Youth Development Agency, where a former colleague said she left “late last year”. She did not take calls or reply to text requests for comment.

This week, Collen Maine seemed to deny the four-year term of the bond, but would say no more.

“I don’t know who is discussing those things with you. I have gone to the bank. I have got an agreement with the bank on how I pay the house for 20 years, so I would not then discuss my private issues in public any more. That’s my response,” he said.

In February, Maine was quoted at a rally as saying that “an attack on the Guptas is an attack on the ANC”.

After Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas’ bombshell revelation in March that the Guptas offered him the finance minister’s job, Maine joined the countercharge, calling on Jonas to resign for ignoring ANC protocol.

And last month, Maine visited Gupta companies after being invited to discuss the major banks’ closure of their company accounts. He was reportedly chased away by disaffected staff.

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Vinayakumar Singh, a director of Bank of India’s South African branch, would not discuss details this week, citing client confidentiality.

But he said that, in South Africa, they operated mainly as a merchant bank and had granted only “two or three” home loans. He did not deny that the bank had a relationship with the Guptas, saying it was “not the only” bank in South Africa in that position.

The Gupta family did not reply to detailed questions emailed to family and company spokespeople.

The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, an independent non- profit, produced this story. Like it? Be an amaB supporter, sign up for its newsletter or visit amaBhungane.co.za.

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1. Annexure C

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