28

‘Ace’s girls’

In late June and early July 2017 , Igo Mpambani’s friends, family and
business associates attended memorial services held for him in
Johannesburg and Welkom. He was finally buried in his family’s
ancestral homestead in the Eastern Cape. All indications are that his
death neither affected 605 Consulting’s latest dealings with the FSHS
nor deterred the company from continuing to make questionable
payments to third parties.
On 6 July, less than a week after Mpambani was laid to rest, the FSHS
transferred more than R 11 million to 605 Consulting for the
preliminary infrastructure design reports. At the end of that month,
Michelle, who had taken over her late husband’s role as the company’s
manager, made the usual payments for ‘engineering services’, ‘services
rendered’ and similar fees. This included a payment of exactly R 1. 1
million to a company called Kaykaysim Projects. This entity’s sole
director is Katleho Sothoane, a twenty-five-year-old project-
management student at the Central University of Technology.
According to her Instagram account, Sothoane also has a qualification
from the North-West University’s Vaal Triangle Campus. Further
payments from 605 Consulting were made to Kaykaysim Projects in
August and October 2017 , each time shortly after money was received
from the FSHS. In all, Sothoane’s company earned at least R 1. 5 million
from 605 Consulting. When I visited Kaykaysim Projects in
Bloemfontein, I found a near-deserted office with only a receptionist on
site. The office, incidentally, is right across the road from Botlokwa