Collen Mashawana, the ‘philanthropreneur’ at the heart of Daily Maverick’s investigative series on the Independent Development Trust, frequently mingled with top politicians. Were these innocent encounters, or do the optics betray hints of something more ominous? Collen Mashawana, the Gauteng businessman at the centre of a scandal involving the Independent Development Trust (IDT), appears to have ready access to a range of top politicians and government leaders.
When the businessman’s namesake charitable foundation held a gala dinner for its 12th anniversary in Sandton last year, Malema and Zulu were among those who sang Mashawana’s praises from the podium. If Zulu’s speech was anything to go by, Mashawana had somehow managed to bring together an impressive ensemble of political elites. “To the ministers and deputy ministers who are here, to the MECs, to the mayors, to those representing the premier of the province…” Zulu acknowledged the dignitaries in the audience.
The event took place just before the Independent Development Trust (IDT) appointed the Collen Mashawana Foundation (CMF) to a R60-million contract to manage an Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) scheme for nearly 2,000 jobless South Africans across five provinces. It is this scheme that is now at the centre of Daily Maverick’s IDT investigations. Our reports revealed that Mashawana allegedly funnelled money to a new house being built for suspended IDT CEOTebogo Malaka.
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Mashawana’s charitable foundation, meanwhile, failed to pay the EPWP workers their rightful salaries and allegedly forged their signatures to secure payments from the IDT. All indications are that Malaka had hoped to bury her ties to Mashawana by offering this journalist an alleged bribe, an act we documented in our viral video “sting” exposé. Our focus now shifts to the political world Mashawana seems to inhabit.
Considering the cloud of alleged corruption that now hangs over the businessman, it is apt to ask if his apparent political ties carry the seeds of alleged influence peddling or even State Capture. Zulu strongly denied any impropriety in her dealings with Mashawana.
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