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African National Congress treasurer-general Paul Mashatile has welcomed the release of a report from the commission of inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation, which cleared him of wrongdoing in a transaction between the asset manager and Karan Beef.
The long-awaited and newly released report into governance failures at the continent’s largest asset manager, which manages more than R2 trillion in state assets on behalf civil servant pensions, details manifold transgressions.
Karan Beef, which operates the largest cattle feedlot and abbatoir on the continent, was a family business established in 19754. However, the Karan family in 2018 agreed to sell up to 90% of the business. The PIC's plan was to acquire a majority shareholding in Karan Beef, in a R5.2 billion deal aimed at driving transformation in the agricultural sector.
Allegations regarding the Karan Beef transaction, emailed in January last year from a sender with the pseudonym ‘James Noko’, claimed a nonexecutive director of the PIC, Dudu Hlatshwayo, approved the Karan Beef transaction, in which that Mashatile had a financial interest.
It was claimed that the deal was struck to inflate the selling price by R1 billion to benefit Mashatile.
However, the commission report said the inquiry found that the allegations of corruption and impropriety in the Karan Beef transaction contained in the James Noko correspondence have not been substantiated.
"There is therefore no substance in them. Consequently, no finding of impropriety in the investment decision in the Karan Beef transaction can be made," the report said.
In his statement, Mashatile stressed that the commission found the allegations were not substantiated and therefore had no substance.
"Throughout the proceedings of the commission, we took a principled decision not to comment on these allegations, preferring rather to give the Commission ample space to do its work.
"Now that the commission has completed its work and made its findings public, we believe the matter is closed," Mashatile said.
