Testifying before the State Capture Commission of Inquiry on Thursday, Zulu said he has not received any benefits from the R255 million contract that was awarded to the Gauteng-based Blackhead Consulting and Diamond Hill Trading joint venture by the Free State government. Zulu's testimony comes months following allegations that he benefited from the project. 

Former Free State Economic Development MEC, Mxolisi Dukwana, last year during his testimony referred to a spreadsheet which, he alleged, had initials that referred to Zulu as one of the beneficiaries who received R10 million from the contract.

This, despite Advocate Paul Pretorius having also told the commission its investigators had traced a R600 000 payment made from an Absa bank account belonging to Blackhead Consulting CEO, Edwin Sodi, to SMD Trading, a car dealership in KwaZulu-Natal, on December 2016.

It is alleged the R600 000 was paid to purchase Zulu's Range Rover.

Zulu, however, told the commission that Sodi was actually paying the money because of what he owed him from their past liquor business dealings and that the money was not linked to the 2014 asbestos contact.

He said Sodi made payments to SMD on his instruction as a form of payment for the debt owed by the businessman to one of Zulu's businesses, TZ Lounge in Pietermaritzburg.

OFM News previously reported that the project made national headlines in May when Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, released an investigative report which found the department guilty of improper conduct involving the asbestos housing contract awarded to the two Gauteng-based companies.

Mkhwebane in her report outlined that the provincial department participated in an expired contract of the Gauteng Human Settlements Department, and failed to conduct a due diligence investigation before participating in this contract. She said the province was in possession of the Gauteng Department's Service Legal Agreement, which had expired, and went ahead to pay the service provider an amount of R139 million despite the Auditor-General having declared the procurement as irregular as early as July 31, 2015.

She said their findings also indicated that the service provider had subcontracted the contract at a fee of just over R21 million, while the service provider walked away with R230 million with not much to show for it.

OFM News