Julius Malema deposited R50 000 into a women’s group’s bank account in R100 notes, and the man whose first name and cellphone number is on the deposit slip is an ex-policeman who now works at SGL Engineering.
This week, the ANC Youth League president paid People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa) as part of a fine imposed on him by the Equality Court.
The Sonke Gender Justice Network said Malema had paid the fine 15 months after the court judgment.
This was because of remarks Malema made when he said President Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser had “a nice time” with him.
The deposit was made at the Standard Bank at the Boulders service centre in Midrand.
A spokesman for Standard Bank, Erik Larsen, said he could not comment about the cash deposit because of client confidentiality.
He said Standard Bank was obliged in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act to report all cash deposits of more than R25 000 to the Financial Intelligence Centre.
He added that they also had to report anything deemed suspicious to the centre.
The bank deposit slip indicates that the money to Powa was made with R100 bills, and the depositor was a man who simply signed himself as “Steven”.
MAN IN QUESTION: Stephens Msiza, the man who deposited Julius Malemas Sonke Gender Justice Network fine, was a cop who went from living in the police barracks to an upmarket estate in Pretoria and landing a job with SGL Engineering. Picture: Facebook
He put his cellphone number on the deposit slip.
The Star traced the cellphone number to a man called Stephens Msiza, a 35-year-old who used to work as a policeman at the operational division head office in Pretoria.
A colleague at head office said Msiza “was discharged and works with Julius Malema as his bodyguard”.
Msiza appears to have moved up in life fairly quickly. He lived at the police barracks in Pretoria until last year, when he moved into a house at Equestria Estates in Pretoria.
A Facebook page with the same name has on its wall a man posing in a picture with a new car, an Audi, in February this year.
A friend, Enogh Katz, comments: “Nice neh, ask ur uncle if u cn take it 4 a drive.”
Msiza responds: “is wht we call hard work there is no uncle here. Aim high u ll fall somewhere.”
Msiza lists as his current contact details a number at SGL Engineering projects in Polokwane.
SGL Engineering was one of the companies that had Malema listed as a director last year, when it was revealed that four companies he was linked to had won R140 million in government tenders.
SGL Engineering was accused of shoddy work in Limpopo and Malema’s lawyer, Tumi Mokwena, was quick to deny last year that his client had any dealings with the company.
Mokwena said Malema had asked for his directorship to end when the company became a closed corporation. City Press, however, reported having a document showing Malema had signed to be a director in the company.
Mokwena said this document was a forgery, but has never proved this and criminal charges were never laid.
Malema is no longer a director of the company, but Msiza does appear to be working there.
The switchboard at the engineering company told The Star Msiza was not in the office this week, but would be there next week.
They promised that one of their managers would call back The Star to answer questions. They returned the call, saying only that their lawyer would answer questions, but the law firm had no idea which lawyer was dealing with the matter.
Msiza denied having made the cash deposit.
“Get your facts right. Where would I get that kind of money?” Msiza said.
He also denied being Malema’s bodyguard.
When asked if he worked at SGL Engineering, Msiza refused to answer and put down the phone.
ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu refused to answer questions about how Malema could afford to make a R50 000 deposit in cash.
“It’s really none of your business,” said Shivambu before putting down the phone.
