in Limpopo. Sodi and Mokonyane were ‘allegedly close friends’, the
newspaper reported.^10 In 2017 , the auditor-general classified at least
one of Blackhead’s contracts from Mokonyane’s department as
irregular.^11 Sodi said any claims that his company had scored contracts
because of his alleged friendship with Mokonyane were ‘without
substance’.
Meanwhile, Blackhead’s appointment to the Gauteng Department of
Human Settlements’ panel of PRTs put it on a path that led straight to
the coffers of the Free State provincial government. Presumably having
set his sights on that province, Sodi probably knew that he would need
someone with good connections in the Free State if he were to clinch
contracts there. Igo Mpambani, the Welkom local whose Beach on the
Track parties and other business dealings had given him access to the
province’s social and political circles, must have seemed like the perfect
fit.
A shareholders’ agreement between Sodi’s Blackhead Consulting and
Mpambani’s 605 Consulting Solutions highlights the value that the
latter’s political connections in the Free State and other provinces
brought to the table. ‘It is recorded that Ignatius Mpambani has an
existing relationship with the provincial governments of the Free State,
Northern Cape, North-West and Eastern Cape. 605 Consulting hereby
undertakes to procure contracts in relation to consulting engineering
and project management from the various clients,’ reads the agreement.
The fact that Mpambani could allegedly ‘procure’ government
contracts is a glaring red flag.
A letter from Sodi’s lawyer to Mpambani, sent in September 2016
after the two men had an almost inevitable falling-out over the Free
State asbestos auditing contract, further elaborated on Mpambani’s
nora
(Nora)
#1