Illustrative Image: Thato Magashule. | African National Congress offices in Durban, 25 September 2020. | VNA Consulting’s founder and CEO, Vikash Narsai.
The bank records, obtained through ongoing defamation proceedings, also reveal VNA’s primary stomping grounds. Nearly 96% of the payments into the VNA account came from provincial departments in KZN and in the Free State. One of the first transactions VNA effected after a November 2014 payment from KZN’s transport department was a R8,000 donation to the ANC.
We first focus on the Standard Bank account. This is the company’s main transacting account. Here, VNA received fees from government clients totalling nearly R1-billion. Next, we scrutinise a series of transactions that saw VNA pay the ANC on the same day it received funds from the KZN provincial government.
We nevertheless found several instances where VNA transferred funds to the ANC shortly after it had received payments from government clients in its Standard Bank account. Later that year, VNA again made a substantial donation to the ANC. The payment came hot on the heels of yet another large payment from a government department. On 4 July 2016, the KZN transport department paid R9.5-million into VNA’s Standard Bank account. The following day, VNA, from its FNB account, transferred R500,000 to the ANC. This transaction’s reference was “Donation-anc”.
It added: “The relevant contract and invoices evidencing the work undertaken and payments effected are all available for inspection. The contract and payments had nothing to do with Mr Ace Magashule, the former Premier of the Free State Province. The payments were certainly not a ‘kickback’ or ‘illicit gratification’.”
Thalenti Myeni’s company, Premier Attraction, received the R2-million from VNA in June 2015. Four months later, Premier Attraction transferred R1-million to a company called Isibonelo Construction. Premier Attraction also paid R1.15-million to Isibonelo in December 2015. On the very day of the latter transfer, Isibonelo paid R1-million to the Jacob G Zuma Foundation.
The commission’s report also states: “The evidence that was presented at the Commission indicates that the dealings between VNA Consulting, Premier Attraction , Mr X’s business, Ms Duduzile Myeni, and the Jacob Zuma Foundation were not arms-length business dealings.”