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BRIBE CLAIMS IN ‘TSETLA’ ESTATE: AUDIOS PLAYED

23/05/2024 08:54:00 Mthunzi Mdluli, Gciniwe Phungwayo and Siboniso Nkambule

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MBABANE - Audios accusing former Assistant Master of the High Court, Khanyisile Masilela, who is now the Deputy Registrar of the High Court, of allegedly receiving a bribe from the late businessman Sipho Thulani ‘Tsetla’ Bhembe’s widow were played at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry yesterday.

The widow, Thabsile Bhembe, provided the audios as evidence to bolster accusations she levelled against Masilela when she appeared before the commission a few weeks ago, about Bhembe’s estate. Masilela, who is now the Deputy Registrar of the High Court, was accused of demanding payment from Thabsile to speed up the distribution of the estate. The former assistant master, according to Bhembe’s widow, allegedly wanted to be paid various amounts, which added up to almost E80 000, to quicken the process of distributing Bhembe’s estate.
Masilela is purported to have made the demands for payment on different occasions.

Wanted

It was reported that she received only E30 000 from the monies she allegedly wanted to be paid, some of which were paid in cash at the Corporate Place in Mbabane. Last week, Masilela was expected to appear before the commission, but she sent a lawyer to represent her. Lawyer Mlindi Mthethwa, representing Masilela’s attorney Ben J Simelane, requested a postponement of the matter, citing short notice. Thabsile told the commission that she had evidence of all the assertions she made before the commission. She submitted that she had bank statements of the monies that were given to Masilela. She told the commission that if need be, the bank statements could be provided.

Testified

Adding, Thabsile testified before the commission that she had some recorded phone calls of herself and Masilela. She told the commission that the calls were recorded after she allegedly gave Masilela the E20 000 and when she made requests for the alleged E50 000. The commission showed an interest in hearing the call recordings. An Information Technology (IT) technician was called to assist in setting up the sound system within the commission’s chambers. However, playing the audio on the chamber’s sound system proved futile, as the speakers were said to be malfunctioning. Three phone call audios were produced by Thabsile, which were played via her cellphone.

In the first audio, which played for a few seconds, two women were heard talking, in which the caller is heard saying; “Uphose waticabanisa nam” (you nearly spoiled our relationship)”.
The other woman on the other end is only heard laughing. In the second audio, which was about five minutes, two women were also heard conversing. One made the call to the other and explained that what she was about to say was not allowed, however, because they knew each other, it would not be a problem. The caller said, “Please give me 50.” From their conversation, it was not clear what the 50 meant. The receiver of the call responded by laughing and told the caller that she was in a meeting, she would talk to her associate and call her back.

The caller insisted on the aforementioned figure, saying she was not taking advantage of her, but she needed to fix something on her side. The woman receiving the call is heard saying she would engage her associate about the request, and would come back to her the following day. The caller is then heard saying; “Ngitabe ngingasebenti kusasa (I won’t be working tomorrow)” and said this should be done urgently. In their conversation, the other woman insisted on talking to her associate first. Their conversation then proceeded to other issues that surrounded the estate, where they discussed how some of the issues in the estate could be addressed. The commission also got the opportunity to hear a third phone call recording between two women, purported to be Thabsile and Masilela.

In the audio, two women are heard planning a meeting to be held at a location, to be decided by both parties. The caller was heard saying, the other woman should find a perfect place where they would meet, at an appropriate time. The caller also suggested that the meeting should be at around 11am. After listening to the audios, the commissioners said they needed to be transcribed so that everyone could follow.

Audio

Furthermore, Thabsile told the commission that she had another audio, where she recorded the meeting that was allegedly arranged by Masilela. She told the commission that there were many recordings on her phone and she needed some time to sift through them. The commission gave her time to look for the audio; however, she did not find it. She promised to go over her phone, to look for the audio so that it could be played for the commission. The matter was then adjourned and the commission proposed that it should return sometime next week.
The commission stated that they would be guided by the secretary when the matter would return at a time convenient for all parties.

Ex-assistant master denies taking E20 000 from ‘Tsetla’s widow

MBABANE – Former Assistant Master Khanyisile Masilela has denied taking E20 000 from late businessman Sipho Thulani ‘Tsetla’ Bhembe’s widow for personal gain. Masilela also denied having any meeting with the widow, Thabsile Bhembe, at Tandoori Restaurant in Mbabane. She made these remarks when appearing before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry yesterday. She appeared with her counsel, Ben J Simelane.

Masilela told the commission that a meeting they had with the deceased’s wife was through her lawyers, after she wrote a letter, allegedly complaining why she was not being appointed an executrix in her husband’s estate, since she knew how to run the businesses. “I then told her that she must not dispute the children. I then said she must not be the only executor in the estate. Gama was made an executor, while Thabsile the co-executrix,” Masilela said. She told the commission that the two executors came to her office to inform her how the business was going. According to Masilela, they submitted a requisition of E60 000 for maintenance. She alleged that she released the money and continued with their work. She told the commission that she further requested receipts, but they were not submitted.

Approached

On another note, she informed the commission that the duo approached her and asked for the executor’s fees, which amounted to E28 000. She said they were allegedly the ones who even suggested that the money should be deposited into Gama’s account. Simelane further asked her about the extra E30 000 which was included in the maintenance fees, which was to be shared among the three of them. In response, Masilela said: “Kute intfo lenjalo (there is nothing like that) which I discussed with them,” she said. Masilela informed the commission that a meeting was held in April 2023 for the opening of the second distribution account. She said it was the duty of the Master’s Office to examine it first. “The account was within the Master’s Office between April and May. They then called again to find out what the delay was. I told them that an examiner by the name of Thobeka Dlamini was busy with that process,” she said.

Masilela said she then informed the executors that the account was not balanced and, therefore, needed some corrections. In May, Masilela said she received another call from the duo, asking why it was taking so long to approve the distribution account. “The three of us went to Tandoori, where we talked about what they were to find out from the progress of the account,” she said. Judge Lorraine Hlophe asked her why they met at Tandoori. She said she was on leave and did not want to be perceived as ‘taking the Master’s Office as her own organisation’. She said after that meeting, the examiner called to inform her that she was complete with her process, but some things were not balancing up. She recounted that the co-executrix made certain objections. She pointed out six points why the distribution account was not balanced.

Missing

She said: “I told them that the account enriched one person. I also told them that services happening at Usuthu were missing. Usuthu was transferring a deposit of E220 000 per term. The second distribution account was excluded. I found that E850 000 was going to Thabsile’s personal account. “I also told them that a Sprinter working on cross-border trips was not included in the second distribution account. Another issue was that a Toyota Fortuner had been excluded in the estate. Also, no child benefitted in the distribution of the kombis, since each of them was supposed to get a kombi.” On the other hand, Thabsile stood by her previous words and said she had proof of all that transpired.

Masilela removed me from estate - assistant master

MBABANE – “Masilela removed me from the estate before she was transferred to the High Court.” This was said by Thobeka Dlamini, the Mbabane Assistant Master, when asked who was finalising Sipho ‘Tsetla’ Bhembe’s estate. Dlamini said she discovered that there was no provision for maintenance of the children. She, however, remained speechless when asked whether the provision for maintenance of the deceased’s children had been included.

She further told the commission that Khanyisile Masilela did not prepare any handover notes to her. She further said she was not aware of most of the points pertaining to Quantums or kombis being shared among the beneficiaries, as stated by the deputy registrar. Lindelwa Magagula said she would finalise the estate.