Two Cabinet ministers and a deputy minister, as well as National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, have shares in the consortium that is building the high-speed Gautrain.

The shareholding structure in the Bombela Consortium, which won the R23-billion bid, has been a closely guarded secret, but the Sunday Times has established that Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa- Nqakula, Education Minister Naledi Pandor and Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge stand to benefit from the Gautrain project.

The two ministers sat in a Cabinet meeting that approved the project in December 2005 against the advice of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport. MPs objected because they believed the train served the already comfortable middle class and excluded vast portions of society through its ticket pricing and connections to other transport nodes.

Cosatu and other civil-society groups have also questioned the wisdom of spending so much money on the train when general public transport is in such poor shape.

The government argues that it will ease congestion on the Johannesburg-Tshwane highway, the busiest stretch of road in the country.

Mapisa-Nqakula and Mbete have shares in Dyambu Holdings, while Pandor is involved in Black Management Forum Investments (BMFI). Both companies and 11 others have a 25% stake ­ worth R5-billion ­ in Gautrain through Strategic Partners Group, which is the empowerment partner in Bombela.

Mapisa-Nqakula yesterday confirmed, through her spokesman, Mike Ramagoma, that she had taken part in Cabinet meetings at which the Gautrain project was discussed and approved. She was unaware at the time that Dyambu was part of the Gautrain consortium. “If the minister had been aware that Dyambu was involved in Gautrain, she would have recused herself from Cabinet discussions on Gautrain,” he said.

Pandor yesterday confirmed her shareholding in BMFI but denied her involvement constituted a conflict of interest. “I am an ordinary shareholder in BMFI. I am not a director of the company and I am not involved in decision-making,” she said.

Mbete’s spokesman, Luzuko Jacobs, had not responded to questions at the time of going to press.

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Deputy Minister of Provincial and Local Government Nomatyala Hangana and Gauteng MEC for Housing Nomvula Mokonyane were among the founders of Dyambu.

All three said this week they had since cut ties with the company.

Barbara Jensen, spokesman for the Gautrain project, denied that Dyambu had any shares in it : “On the basis of information supplied by Bombela to the Gautrain project team and which was confirmed by the Gautrain political committee, nothing indicated the shareholding of Dyambu Holdings.”

But tender committee documents in the possession of the Sunday Times show otherwise.

Other high-profile beneficiaries of the Gautrain tender include:

• Mavivi Myakayaka-Manzini, ANC head of international affairs;
• Businessman Tokyo Sexwale;
• Malose Kekana, chief executive of the Umsobomvu Youth Fund;
• Wiseman Nkuhlu, former special economic adviser to President Thabo Mbeki;
• Nolitha Fakude, an executive director at Sasol;
• Bheki Sibiya, chief executive of Business Unity SA; and
• Danisa Baloyi, a prominent businesswoman.

Myakayaka -Manzini and Madlala- Routledge are also shareholders in Dyambu.

Sexwale’s Mvelaphanda Holdings is involved in Gautrain through transport company Unitrans, which has been awarded a multimillion- rand contract to provide bus feeder services for the railway.

Kekana, Nkuhlu, Fakude and Sibiya are shareholders in BMFI, while Baloyi is linked to TSM Enterprises, another Bombela partner.

Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa announced Bombela as the preferred bidder for Gautrain in July last year. The concession ­ which includes three foreign firms ­ will run for 20 years. Construction of the first link in the Gautrain network, between OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton, began last month.

The Gautrain saga comes amid criticism that large government tenders mainly benefit a well-connected elite *1.

With acknowledgement to Wisani wa ka Ngobeni, Dominic Mahlangu, Dumisane Lubisi and Sunday Times.