‘Name your price’ minister faces trial over blank cheque bribery allegations
He’s back! Former minister of State Security has had his case reopened after he was acquitted of trying to pay to stop an Eskom inquiry.
A former State Security minister, accused of offering a fellow MP a blank cheque as a bribe to halt an Eskom inquiry in 2017, returned to court on Monday as the corruption case was reopened.
The accused, Advocate Bongani Bongo, was granted bail of just R5,000 after his case was reopened for retrial recently.
Bongo was accused of attempting to bribe a fellow Member of Parliament in 2017 to stop a parliamentary inquiry into Eskom’s board.
According to a press statement from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks), his most recent court appearance has resulted in his case being postponed to 4 March 2025. He appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court.
INVESTIGATION OF CORRUPTION AT POWER UTILITY
Bongo served as Minister of State Security from 2017 to 2018. The inquiry , which he intended on stopping, was meant to investigate corruption at the power utility, which has long been plagued by mismanagement and financial misdeeds.
According to reports, between September and October 2017, Bongo approached a member of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, namely Ntuthuzelo Vanara, and presented him with a blank cheque.
The former minister allegedly offered a bribe in exchange for halting the committee’s next meeting. This meeting would have forced Eskom’s board to answer tough questions about corruption at the state-owned company.
Bongo allegedly asked the MP to “name his price” to make the meeting disappear.
FORMER MINISTER’S CASE REOPENED
Vanara reported Bonga in an affidavit to speaker Baleka Mbete and he was subsequently charged with corruption. But then, in 2021, Bongo was acquitted of corruption by the then-judge president of the Western Cape, John Hlophe.
But then, later that year, Hlophe himself was accused of improper interference in the deliberations of the Constitutional Court in litigation involving the interests of Jacob Zuma. He was impeached as a result of a finding by the Judicial Service Commission that his conduct amounted to gross misconduct.
A few years passed, but eventually, in May 2024, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) overturned the ruling in Bongo’s case. The court now ordered him to start his corruption trial from scratch.
MASSIVE SALARY FOR MINISTERS
Bongo remained a member of Parliament until 2018 but is no longer in office. As a former minister, he would have earned a salary of around R2.4 million per year, plus additional perks such as travel allowances, official residences, and other benefits.
The State Security Agency (SSA) is responsible for gathering intelligence to protect the country from threats. However, it has been at the centre of corruption scandals in recent years, with reports of funds being misused for political and personal gain. Bongo’s tenure at the SSA has also been criticized for a lack of transparency and accountability.
The National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Lieutenant General (Dr\Adv.) SG Lebeya applauded the National Serious Corruption investigating team and encouraged the prosecution team to ensure that the South African citizenry receive the deserved justice due to them.