WATCH | ‘Enough is enough’ – Macpherson leads anti-graft blitz after alleged R60k bribe video

Macpherson

Johannesburg – Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson laid criminal charges on Thursday against the suspended CEO of a government body caught on camera allegedly trying to bribe a journalist into burying a corruption investigation.

The independent Daily Maverick released footage on Wednesday showing the head of the state-owned Independent Development Trust (IDT) and her spokesperson allegedly trying to persuade a journalist to drop an investigation in exchange for a wad of cash.

The brazen attempt at apparent bribery caused shock waves in South Africa, where regular claims of government corruption have undermined President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration and his African National Congress party.

The video shows Tebogo Malaka and her spokesperson apparently offering 60,000 rand ($3,400) packed in a Dior shopping bag to investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh at a restaurant.

“I just want to close this chapter,” Malaka can be heard saying.

“I don’t want you to be writing about it,” she said.

Macpherson told journalists outside a Cape Town police station that he had “formally opened a criminal case” against Malaka and her spokesperson.

“It’s one thing to hear about corruption, it’s another thing to see it take place so blatantly and with the feeling of impunity,” said Macpherson, from the second-largest party in the unity government, the Democratic Alliance.

“These actions are not just about one bribe or two individuals,” he said. “They are about dismantling a culture of impunity that has overtaken parts of the public sector.”

After being offered the cash, the journalist takes a picture of the money, refuses the offer and walks off.

Myburgh had been investigating corruption linked to government tenders implicating a property owned by Malaka.

He had already exposed irregularities in her awarding of a tender to install oxygen plants at state hospitals, which led to her suspension as CEO pending the outcome of an investigation.

The IDT spokesperson, Phasha Makgolane, had previously offered Myburgh access to government tenders in exchange for dropping his investigations, the Daily Maverick reported.

Under pressure to act against corruption, Ramaphosa last month fired his higher education minister after the DA filed charges accusing her of lying to parliament.

He also suspended his police minister after bombshell accusations by a provincial police chief that he had colluded with organised crime.

The DA has also laid corruption charges against the human settlements minister over allegations of fraudulent billing to the national electricity supplier, Eskom.

Deputy President Paul Mashatile was fined last week for failing to declare a diamond gifted to his wife by a jailed gem dealer.

South Africa ranks 82nd in the world on the corruption perception index of the NGO Transparency International.

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