Criminal enterprise at Fort Hare created an atmosphere of terror for kick-backs

By Estelle Ellis

7 Apr 2024

The work of an alleged syndicate at the University of Fort Hare is unmasked as the State’s case becomes clearer.

When University of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu went all the way to President Cyril Ramaphosa to fight for justice for two murdered employees, he never imagined that two of the people in his trusted management circle would be ousted as the alleged masterminds. This week, Buhlungu said he felt a deep sense of betrayal.

The State now alleges that what Buhlungu and his supporters first thought was violent retribution against the graft clean-up spearheaded by him and his leadership team was much more sinister.

The indictment names Buhlungu as a victim of the “criminal enterprise” set up at the university. It also alleges that these crimes were fuelled by kickbacks paid by the private sector for lucrative forensic investigations and bodyguards.

Anwar Khan, owner of the private security company Pentagon and a former bodyguard of musician Kiernan Forbes, known as AKA, is mentioned in the charge sheet as an alleged funder of kickbacks.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Fort Hare murders — ex-SAPS member, 14 suspended university workers arrested

Read more in Daily Maverick: Secret briefings, money trails revealed as more Fort Hare officials and auditors appear in court

These are said to have been paid to Fort Hare’s human resources director, Paul Tladi, and its director of investigations and vetting, Isaac Plaatjies. Horizon Forensics, of which the university’s attorney, Bradley Conradie, is a director, is another company that allegedly paid kickbacks.

The State alleges that Pentagon was paid more than R1-million a month for bodyguard services. The indictment also mentions the involvement of Terrence Joubert, a former murder and robbery detective, risk specialist for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and investigator for the Asset Forfeiture Unit, as having received kickbacks through Pentagon.

Prosecutors have set out an intricate case of racketeering and corruption against 15 accused, including Plaatjies, Tladi and several other managers at the university.

According to the State’s case, they devised and operated a scheme to create an “atmosphere of terror” on campus, making it easy to authorise deviations from normal procurement processes and allowing them to bypass normally stringent tender procedures that have been in place since 2019. Plaatjies and his assistant, Ansa Smith, then “vetted” these companies.

Buhlungu has been on a hit list that was allegedly created as part of this atmosphere of terror, and a price of R5-million was placed on his head.

The State’s case against alleged mastermind Plaatjies and those who had committed the violent crimes is ready for trial in the Bhisho High Court later in 2024.

Profit from fear

But this week, a more sinister layer to instability fuelled by criminality at the institution unfolded.

Former Fort Hare fleet manager Petrus Roets and Buhlungu’s bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, were allegedly killed as part of the criminal syndicate’s plan to profit from an atmosphere of fear on the campus.

This is one of the allegations made by the prosecution in a provisional indictment setting out several charges of crime and corruption against university employees and prominent private sector business owners who allegedly paid the kickbacks.

Prosecutors claim that the plans to defraud the university specifically targeted Buhlungu and the institution’s chief financial officer, Charles Matumba. These plans were set in motion shortly after Buhlungu had arrived at the institution in 2017.

The indictment points to Tladi as a second mastermind who had also received millions in kickbacks. It further reveals that kickback payments went on even after Plaatjies was arrested in November 2023 and continued until February 2024.

This week, as a team of high-powered lawyers took up representing the accused, the magistrates’ court in Dimbaza (formerly Alice) had to deal with several technical issues raised by the legal team. An application challenging the court’s jurisdiction because an East London magistrate had signed the warrants of arrest was dismissed.

Read more in Daily Maverick: University of Fort Hare VC’s roller-coaster ride for justice in face of murder and criminal syndicates

Some charges falling under organised crime legislation were also not put to the accused as the NPA must, by law, first provide authorisation, and two of the accused, Conradie and business owner Craig Retief, were hospitalised.

It is expected that the accused’s bail application will continue next week.

The State alleges that Pentagon, EL Reign, Retief, the law firm Bradley Conradie Halton Cheadle, of which Conradie is also a director, and Horizon Forensics paid kickbacks for emergency contracts at the university.

It is also alleged that the prices paid for these services were inflated and that the 10 Fort Hare employees, including Plaatjies and Tladi, had a hand in this. DM

Timeline

This is what the State says happened:

2017: Professor Sakhela Buhlungu starts his tenure as vice-chancellor of the University of Fort Hare.

2019: Isaac Plaatjies is appointed as the university’s manager of transformation. Later he is promoted to head of investigations and vetting. After his arrest, it is discovered that his qualifications are fake.

In April 2019, the State alleges, all the accused, except for Plaatjies and the university’s human resources director, Paul Tladi, are in Buhlungu’s inner circle and start implying that the Fort Hare campus is a dangerous place. This necessitates bodyguards and forensic investigations.

2019: The alleged payments from Anwar Khan and his company, Pentagon, start, according to the State. Between 2019 and 2024 (even after Plaatjies is arrested in November 2023) payments allegedly flow from Pentagon and/ or Khan to several employees at Fort Hare. The bulk of the money, millions of rands, is paid to Plaatjies, Tladi and the latter’s wife, Lucrecia Davids. Hundreds of thousands of rands are also paid to other Fort Hare employees.

Buhlungu agrees to a R33-million contract for Horizon Forensics to investigate chaos in the university’s supply chain management department. Other contracts are also given to people currently accused before court.

May 2022: The university’s fleet manager, Petrus Roets, one of Buhlungu’s appointees, is shot dead at his house in Gonubie. Buhlungu and other key personnel are given protection. The university makes an outside appointment of a bodyguard for Buhlungu – a move that angers Plaatjies, according to papers before court.

5 August 2022: The Special Investigating Unit starts an investigation into tenders and degree programmes at the university.

January 2023: Buhlungu’s bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, is shot and killed outside Buhlungu’s house in what is believed to be a missed hit on the vice-chancellor.

April 2023: Another of Buhlungu’s bodyguards, Msingathi Langa, is killed in a car crash while driving a Mercedes-Benz that is hit on the side by a bakkie.

April 2023: Five suspects are arrested and charged. They are Bongani Peter, the university’s chief operating transport officer; Wanini Khuza, a retired supervisor of drivers at the East London campus (who had been brought back on contract); Sicelo Mbulawa, a former student representative council member and businessman who provides vehicle repair services to the university; and Mthobisi Khanyile and Mthobisi Dlamini, alleged hitmen from KwaZulu-Natal. Bail applications are initially refused, but Mbulawa is later granted R75,000 bail by the high court.

July 2023: A policeman attached to the detective services in Mthatha, Constable Lindokuhle Manjati, is arrested, charged and added as accused number six.

August 2023: Zimele Chiliza, a taxi boss from KwaZulu-Natal, and attorney Pelisa Nkonyeni are added as accused numbers seven and eight. Chiliza is released on R100,000 bail and Nkonyeni on R50,000.

September 2023: Thamsanqa Mgwetyana, a fugitive, is found and added as accused number nine. He remains incarcerated. In court, it is said that he was the person who linked Plaatjies to the murders.

17 November 2023: Plaatjies is arrested, charged and added as accused number 10. He remains incarcerated. In his latest attempt to get bail, the magistrate says he was the one who drew up the hit list. The court describes him as dangerous and dishonest.

December 2023: The State indicates that the case against the accused charged with the assassinations, kidnapping and other violent crimes is ready and will be tried in the Bisho High Court.

30 March 2024: In a separate case, 14 new accused are arrested on charges of fraud and corruption. Plaatjies is rearrested in this case. Also arrested are his assistant Ansa Smith, Tladi, Davids, Mbulelo Gingcana and Louis Mawila (both managers at Fort Hare), Nozuko Mabombo (Buhlungu’s office manager), Wayne Gosain van der Haar (of the university’s IT department) and Thamsanqa Sonjica (of the university’s protection services). Private business owners arrested are Sarah Burger (a lawyer and director of Horizon Forensics), Terrence Joubert (who allegedly facilitated payments through his company), Craig Retief (given a tender for cyber-forensic investigations), Khan (owner of Pentagon and former bodyguard to rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes) and Nthabiseng Makhoba (whose company is accused of paying kickbacks to Fort Hare employees). DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.

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