News24 | Ex-DG Mogajane and the alleged VBS bribe: Ties to non-profit directors revealed

• Former National Treasury DG Dondo Mogajane is accused of signalling acceptance of a R1-million payment from VBS Mutual Bank's Tshifhiwa Matodzi.  
• Mogajane denied receiving any bribe, but new information confirms his links to the Mkhize sisters, whose non-profit company allegedly received the money. 
• The Baphilile Foundation's bank account, controlled by the Mkhize sisters, was allegedly used to disguise the bribe.

AmaBhungane can reveal former National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane is a family friend of the Mkhize sisters, whose non-profit company was paid R1 million by VBS Mutual Bank.

This money was allegedly destined for Mogajane as a bribe to stall the corrupt bank's demise. 

This adds circumstantial support to the allegations contained in an affidavit by former VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi signed as part of a plea deal with the National Prosecuting Authority and made public last month. 

Matodzi, identified as the "kingpin" behind the VBS theft, told authorities in August 2017 Mogajane attended a meeting at a cigar bar in Fourways where he allegedly agreed to receive R1 million.  

In exchange, Mogajane was expected to retract a letter from Treasury that had instructed municipalities to withdraw their deposits from VBS and to stop making further deposits. 

The letter was an effective death sentence for VBS, which relied overwhelmingly on illegal municipal deposits secured through "commission agents". 

According to Matodzi, Mogajane was accompanied at the meeting by medical doctor Zinzi Mkhize-Vabasa.

Matodzi also claimed it was agreed the money would be paid into a Standard Bank account belonging to the Baphilile Foundation, a non-profit company founded by the same Mkhize-Vabasa and her sister, Londiwe Maluleke.

In his affidavit, Matodzi attached proof of the payment he had made to Baphilile via his company, Vele Investments. 

Mogajane strongly denies receiving a bribe, but has not answered key details of the allegation, citing constraints due to his cooperation with a Hawks investigation. 

Now, new information suggests Mogajane shares a close relationship with the two siblings whose non-profit was allegedly used to disguise the intended beneficiary. 

AmaBhungane has seen social media images which show Mogajane is friends with Mkhize-Vabasa and Londiwe, who is also one of the directors of Baphilile.  

The pictures taken from the sisters' Instagram pages confirm there is a relationship between Mogajane, and the controllers of the foundation allegedly used to facilitate the payment of R1 million to influence the former director-general.  

Interestingly, Londiwe is now married to Joseph Maluleke, the attorney who previously represented Matodzi, although this was not the case in 2017 when the payment occurred. 

One source told us Mogajane and the Mkhize family were close and had been for years: "Dondo has also now become very close to Joseph Maluleke, who is now Londiwe's hubby."

Neither Mogajane, the Mkhize sisters, or Maluleke were prepared to answer questions about their relationship. 

Maluleke has also represented Limpopo ANC treasurer Danny Msiza, who has been accused of facilitating many of the illegal municipal deposits into VBS and currently represents Kabelo Matsepe - the middleman between Msiza and VBS.

Londiwe's social media activity suggests she married Maluleke in 2023.

Maluleke was involved in VBS affairs at least as far back as 2017, when he failed to facilitate a potential deal between VBS and controversial Angolan banker Alvaro Sobrinho whereby VBS would create a new trade finance arm.

The collapse of the deal resulted in a loss of R144 million for Sobrinho. 

Maluleke was also present at a desperate last-ditch meeting, held by VBS management the day before the bank went into curatorship in March 2018, to devise a plan to save the bank and, by extension, themselves. 

Baphilile's bank account 

Company records show Baphilile, the non-profit that received money allegedly meant for Mogajane, has three directors.  

As reflected in our previous article, the non-profit's third director, Phemelo Tshoeu, told amaBhungane she did not know about the company or the fact she was listed as one of its directors.  

READ | Dingy hotels and bad coffee: The weeks of secret meetings that led to VBS kingpin's plea deal

Initially, Tshoeu, who is also a medical doctor, implied her friend, Mkhize-Vabaza, who she met at university, might have "falsely" listed her as a director.  

However, shortly after the story was published, Tshoeu backtracked and said she remembered in 2016 she had agreed to be part of the foundation after Mkhize-Vabasa approached her with the proposal.  

Tshoeu said she did not immediately remember this because she had never been involved in the organisation's operations and was not aware it was even financially active.  

Tshoeu shared emails between her and the two sisters which reveal by January 2017, Standard Bank "automatically closed" the foundation's bank account - opened in 2016 - "because it was not active".  

In the email, Mkhize-Vabasa asked Tshoeu and Londiwe Maluleke to send her a series of documents so she could open a new account.

A few days later, Mkhize-Vabasa sent another email.

This time, she needed Tshoeu to sign an urgent resolution making her and her sister the authorised signatories of Baphilile's bank account. 

In the dark  

The resolution meant the Mkhize sisters had full control of Baphilile's bank account.

According to Tshoeu, that was the last time she spoke to them about the foundation.

She claimed the three of them had never held any board meetings and she was not apprised of Baphilile's activities. 

Although Mkhize-Vabasa previously told us Baphilile was a real non-profit company doing work in the field of women's health, Tshoeu stated she was totally in the dark about this. 

She stated:

amaBhungane sent detailed questions to email addresses belonging to Mkhize-Vabasa, Londiwe and Joseph Maluleke.  

Mkhize-Vabasa said simply "this is a legal matter now and I've been advised by my legal team not to respond to anyone".

Londiwe and Joseph Maluleke did not respond to questions.

In response to our questions about his relationship with the Mkhize sisters, Mogajane referred us to a letter his attorney sent us when we first wrote about Matodzi's allegations.

The letter stated Mogajane stood by his public statement denying Matodzi's allegations and could not answer specific questions because he was "cooperating with the Hawks in their investigations into matters linked to VBS and would not want to prejudice such investigations".