About a week ago, Independent Development Trust head Tebogo Malaka resigned before a disciplinary hearing linked to a Daily Maverick video showing her and a spokesperson allegedly offering a cash bribe to a journalist. Now, a police investigation into this scandal is being finalised. A police investigation into an alleged bribe attempt, which Daily Maverick captured on video and that focuses on former Independent Development Trust (IDT) head Tebogo Malaka and its spokesperson Phasha Makgolane, is in the process of being finalised.
This is according to Western Cape police and the provincial National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). In August last year, Daily Maverick released video footage of Malaka and Makgolane allegedly offering a R60,000 cash bribe to its investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh. Malaka subsequentlydenied knowledgeof a bribe, but the video footage and audio suggest otherwise.
Of this scandal,Myburgh previously wrote: “The story that Malaka wanted to bury delves into a botched IDT EPWP scheme and prominent businessman Collen Mashawana’s involvement in a property currently being built for Malaka inside Gauteng’s Waterfall Country Estate. “Mashawana funnelled at least R200,000 into House Malaka. This while his eponymous charitable foundation secured a R60-million contract from Malaka’s IDT to run employment schemes for nearly 2,000 people across five provinces.
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“Scores of the EPWP workers were ripped off by the Collen Mashawana Foundation, with some of them receiving only fractions of the salaries that were due to them.” (Mashawana, in an affidavit relating tolegal action he launchedlast year in an attempt to prevent Daily Maverick and Myburgh reporting further on these issues, denied making any payments towards Malaka’s property. His court bid wasstruck off the roll.) [STATEMENT] I welcome the resignation of the IDT CEO, effective 31 January 2026.Importantly, no exit compensation was paid, and her resignation does not bring an end to criminal investigations.pic.twitter.com/dF5GzB0ZuF Last Wednesday, it emerged that Malaka had resigned as the IDT’s chief executive officer (this comes into effect on 31 January 2026), before a disciplinary hearing against her that stemmed from Daily Maverick’s video exposé. While this means disciplinary hearings against them will not proceed, they still face the possibility of police action – potential criminal charges.
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