Mr Mathobela

Deputy Chief Dhlamini stated that the choice of words in the messages came from Mr Mathobela and that he just edited the messages and added what he wanted to add.

“this was the choice of words from Mr Mathobela. I just edited on his messages and just added what I wanted to add”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini denies having a personal relationship or assisting bidders related to Sergeant Nkosi; he referred Nkosi to Mr Mathobela to avoid conflict of interest.

“It is not true that I have assisted any bidder in winning tenders. I actually refused to assist and preferred instead to refer Sergeant Nkosi to Mr Mathobela.”

There was a tender in Mpumalanga involving firearms, but the land invasion tender did not require firearms.

“As Sergeant Nkosi indicated that there was a tender in Mpumalanga that they were busy with. And on those notes that were coming from Mr Mathobela, if you got through them, you will realise that there is a requirement for firearm. And I do not think a tender for land invasion required firearm in that regard. So, I can believe that it was not for the land invasion tender because there are no firearm requirements in the tender for land invasion.”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini received information from Mr Mathobela about the tender and passed it to Sergeant Nkosi without questioning it.

“That is the information Mr Mathobela gave me to pass it to Sergeant Nkosi that he required. I never questioned him.”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini gave Sergeant Nkosi the names of two companies, Ngaphesheya and Elshaddai, and a list of seven other companies purportedly linked to the EFF that might get the tender, but denied leaking any confidential or sensitive information from the City, stating the information came from Mr Mathobela and was merely confirming preference for the two companies.

“I was literally confirming that the two companies would be preferred. It was a choice of words from Mr Mathobela to refer these companies as vehicles, which I adopted in relaying the message to Sergeant Nkosi.”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini admitted he did not literally confirm the two companies should be preferred but repeated that referring to the companies as 'vehicles' was taken from Mr Mathobela's wording.

“I was not literally confirming the two companies should be preferred. It was a choice of words from Mr Mathobela to refer these companies as vehicles. I adopted it in relaying the message to Sergeant Nkosi.”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini stated he referred Sergeant Nkosi to Mr Mathobela to assist with the compilation of tender documents because he knew Mr Mathobela and he worked with him for quite some time.

“I know him for a long time, he worked with me for quite some time, he was actually at ease to say I must contact him, speak to Mr Mathobela on his behalf.”