A new witness has told the Pretoria High Court that the SANDF had already been investigating military contractor Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndlovu and her business “Umkhombe Marine”, prior to her meeting with then Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
This came out at the corruption and money laundering trial against Mapisa-Nqakula, which saw a new witness take the stand Friday morning.
The former minister faces 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering. The state alleges she solicited illicit cash payments from military contractor Ntsondwa-Ndlovu between the periods of 2016 to 2019.
Retired SANDF General Sandile Sizani told the court he had initially been instructed by then SANDF Chief General Shoke to investigate military contractor Ntsondwa-Ndlovu’s business, “Umkhombe Marine” back in 2016 and was told to investigate ‘discreetly’.
“I asked him and the reason he gave me was that the whistleblower did not trust anyone. And I explained to General Shoke that, look, this is going to be a difficult one. He said, no, the whistleblower would rather, I said to the whistleblower, they will contact you directly.”
Sizani says he found irregularities with the company, especially in relation to a military tender and unauthorised landing at the Waterkloof Airforce base.
“Umkhombe Marine was saying to the defense force, I had already chartered an aircraft that is going to repatriate our material from outside the country back to South Africa. Whereas, in reality, that chartered flight was already at Waterkloof Air Force base days before the tender was discussed. That was the main red flag,” says Sizani.
General Shoke had later told Sizani to hand over the investigation to the military police, which prompted Sizani to approach the minister on why no action had been taken following the investigation three months later.
“It concerned me because I saw nothing happening. Maybe I expected quick arrests or something like that because the documents that I had handed over to the military police were enough for something to happen immediately. Like the culprits being arrested.”
Two new witnesses will take the stand next week.