Minister of Human Settlements Thembi Simelane has rubbished claims that she earned R700,000 from Eskom contractor Vitrovian, her former employer, through overbilling power utility for a work done by ghosts workers.
This comes after Simelane, who has also been implicated in the collapse of now defunct VBS Mutual Bank, is accused of earning more than R700,000 while working for Vitrovian, which was hired to suppress protests at the Kusile power plant.
Vitrovian allegedly inflated its charges, overbilling the power utility for work performed by non-existent employees.
According to News24, she joined Vitrovian as a project director in October 2011 until March 2012.
Alarmingly, Simelane’s signature has been linked to some of these inflated invoices, added the publication.
In response, Simelane expressed dismay, calling them a desperate attempt to involve her in sensationalised controversies.
“The office of the Minister can confirm that the minister was an employee of Vitrovian in 2011 as a project director for seven months and was remunerated for the work she performed for the period she stayed at Vitrovian until she left,” Simelane’s spokesperson, Tsekiso Machike, said.
Machile further stated that Simelane was not responsible for Vitrovian’s contractual obligations and criticised the suggestion that she had any involvement in price inflation activities.
“It is malicious for News24 to paint a picture that she might have been involved in any alleged activities or operations of price inflation as a mere employee of the company.”
Simelane clarified that, as a project director, she would not have had intimate knowledge of the company’s financial transactions with Eskom or any other clients.
“Once again, I hasten to correct the misconception that the position of project director would have in any way allowed me to enjoy intimate knowledge of the company’s financial transactions with Eskom or any client of the company; this assertion is simply false and is bordering on gutter journalism,” Simelane added.
Last year, Simelane made national headlines after reports revealed that she took a R575,600 loan in 2017 from the VBS Mutual Bank to purchase a coffee shop in Sandton, Johannesburg.
At the time, she was the mayor of Polokwane Municipality, in Limpopo.
In exchange for facilitating loans to municipalities, VBS banks allegedly paid bribes to the broker, Gundo Wealth Solutions.
Simelane denied any wrong doing when she appeared before Justice Portfolio Committee in Parliament last year regarding the VBS scandal and the loan she used to buy the coffee shop.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has announced plan to lay criminals charges against Simelane over the allegations involving overbilling Eksom through Vitrovian.
IOL Politics