Cape Town – The NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has obtained a provisional restraint order against the property of a businessman whose business is implicated in Fort Hare tender fraud.
Walter Qusheka, 50, is the director of Garden to Floors PTY LTD, trading as Qush cleaning services (Qush), a company implicated in the University of Fort Hare (UFH) corruption case.
The order also relates to five other defendants, as well as Qusheka’s wife, Vuyokazi Qusheka, 36.
The NPA said the current value of the restrained assets was R14.3 million, but that value should increase as the court-appointed curator investigates the assets of the defendants.
“The alleged corrupt activities at UFH where Qusheka had a contract with the university expired at the end of its determined period in 2015,” NPA regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said.
“However, a university official, Thobile George, the former contracts manager at UFH, unilaterally extended the contract on a month-to-month basis, resulting in a loss for UFH of R19.2m.
“George did not have the lawful power to contract on behalf of UFH,” he said.
Tyali added that the amount was made up of multiple invoices that were submitted to the university and were paid to Qusheka for services including additional cleaners and once-off cleaning after events or accidental incidents such as flooding.
“When UFH officials were queried about the additional cleaning services, it turned out that there were no additional cleaners employed nor were there instances of once-off cleaning that had transpired.
“Evidence also revealed that George received payments from Qusheka which amounted to R4m and were paid into the bank account of a company that he is the director of,” Tyali said.
He said George, Walter and Vuyokazi Qusheka, Yolisa Songca, Lungelwa Finwana, and Yandiswa Sonamzi faced criminal charges of fraud and corruption. The matter was postponed until August 4 for the setting of a trial date in the East London Regional Court.
Tyali said the granting of the restraint order demonstrated the inroads that the combined efforts of the SAPS and NPA were making into cracking the corruption and criminal activities at the university, which have been the subject of extensive media attention following assassinations and the attempted murder of the university’s vice-chancellor.
“These efforts are starting to bear fruit and will not cease until UFH is allowed to focus on its core mandate of educating students instead of constantly dealing with criminal elements in their midst,” he said.
IOL