First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

Mystery surrounds a luxury hotel situated on the outskirts of the northern KwaZulu-Natal trading town of Eshowe, used to accommodate former president Jacob Zuma’s security entourage, and how it grew from a modest cluster of rondavels in 2014 into the R60-million four-star establishment it is today.

In October 2020, Thobeka Madiba Zuma, one of the former president’s wives, in a sworn statement in an application filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, named Zuma as the “true owner” of the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel in Eshowe, which is the closest town on Route 66 from Nkandla and about 75km from it.

Zuma, his wife claimed, “is also exceptionally wealthy in his own right. Most of the assets which are beneficially owned by the respondent are not registered in his own name”.

She specifically cited the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel in Eshowe, which she claimed “is registered in the name of a third party (or a corporation in which the shareholding is owned by a third party) but [Zuma] is the beneficial owner of this hotel”.

An investigation by Daily Maverick has revealed that the purchase of the hotel was negotiated in 2015 by former Johannesburg City Power CEO, Sicelo Xulu. This was confirmed to Daily Maverick by two independent sources.

While Daily Maverick confirmed that Xulu personally negotiated the R8-million purchase of the Fleurdale B and B CC (converted to a Pty Ltd in 2019), which owns the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel, situated on erf 713 and which falls under the uMlalazi Municipality, a Gauteng tax consultant, Constance Khensani Ndhlovu, is listed as the sole member of the CC and, after converting to a Pty Ltd in 2019, as director.

Despite South African taxpayers forking out R135-million in 2009 for the construction of an exclusive “security village” at former President Jacob Zuma’s home at Nxamalala, Nkandla, members of his personal protection unit have never utilised these.

Daily Maverick in 2014 highlighted that Zuma’s entourage had used private guest houses, and scrutinised invoices by these establishments sent to the Office of the President to settle. Rates at the time varied between R800 and R1,000 a night per person.

Sources have told Daily Maverick that Zuma’s security have never been accommodated at the R135-million security compound at Nkandla as the buildings were never officially handed over by the Department of Public Works (DPW), which oversaw the “upgrades” at Nxamalala, to SAPS.

Daily Maverick was awaiting a reply from the DPW at the time of writing.

Prior to the construction of the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel, Zuma’s entourage utilised several other establishments in Eshowe.

The private accommodation costs of the former president’s security and medical detail have been footed by taxpayers for more than a decade and amount to millions, considering Zuma’s term of office from 2009 to 2018 when he stepped down.

Since its opening in 2019, Zuma’s security detail has been exclusively accommodated at the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel at the cost of R1,150 a day – the going rate advertised on the hotel’s website.

SAPS have declined to confirm this, citing “security reasons”. Daily Maverick has confirmed that the former president’s entourage remained at the hotel during the Covid-19 lockdown and continues to be accommodated there, paid for out of the public purse.

During a recent visit to Eshowe, Daily Maverick came across an event by the Department of Agriculture hosted at the Aloe. The hotel is a popular weekend hangout for locals with its bar, large-screen TV and colourful children’s play area.

Aloe Lifestyle Hotel graphic by Rudi Louw.

Sicelo Xulu, currently CEO of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers, is a well-known figure in Eshowe. He owns a R2.5-million home at the Eshowe Hills Golf Estate and hails from Nkanini, nearby.

In 2013 he found himself in the spotlight as CEO of City Power Johannesburg when he acted as a key figure in the awarding of a R1.2-billion contract to supply smart electricity meters to Zuma’ self-confessed benefactor Vivian Reddy and his Edison Group.

In 2013 Reddy took amaBhungane to the Press Ombudsman after a team of investigative journalists found that the tender for the smart meters had been “manipulated” to favour Reddy’s company.

That investigation found that the initial technical evaluation scoresheet had been amended to improve the result for Reddy’s company. It found that a letter informing Edison that it had won the bid was dated prior to City Power supply chain management receiving the bid recommendation and the signing-off of the decision by the chair of the adjudication committee.

Edison’s share of the contract, amaBhungane found, had been inflated from an initial recommendation of a R600-million share of an R800-million contract to an exclusive contract for R1.25-billion. Xulu, the report noted, had played a central role in the award to Reddy’s company.

The Press Ombudsman dismissed a complaint by Reddy, who had stated that the investigation by the journalists had insinuated his company had been awarded the contract solely because of its “relationship with the president”.

Xulu stepped down from his position at City Power in July 2017 after Herman Mashaba was elected mayor of Johannesburg in 2016, and following the implementation of a forensic investigation into various alleged tender irregularities.

These included R60-million budgeted by Xulu to build two substations in Eldorado Park and Hopefield, which were never delivered. Xulu was later exonerated but Mashaba ordered a second report by SizweNtsalubaGobodo, which has not been released. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) too is investigating allegations of impropriety with regard to Xulu’s term of office which allegedly left the power utility with a R2-billion mismanagement headache.

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The sale of the Fleurdale B and B CC, which owned the Aloe Hotel, took place on 15 September 2015 after it had been negotiated by Xulu.

The CC was bought for R8-million cash. Ndhlovu was appointed as the sole member of the CC on 22 September 2015 and as sole director of the Pty Ltd in 2019 and has confirmed to Daily Maverick that she is the owner.

Building began soon afterwards and Daily Maverick confirmed that cash was used to purchase some of the building materials.

The former hotel rondavels, overlooking the incomplete low-cost housing Sunnydale Development, were razed to the ground and a R60-million hotel rose over time.

Building was stalled temporarily in 2016 but soon resumed.

The Aloe Lifestyle Hotel was officially opened to great fanfare on 12 May 2019, an event attended by Zuma and King Goodwill Zwelithini.

Constance Khensani Ndhlovu is listed in CIPC records as a “semi-skilled” tax consultant with Mahoua Tax and Consulting in Gauteng.

Two months after buying the Fleurdale B and B CC for R8-million, Ndhlovu  also registered a company, Louya Properties, along with her bosses at Mahoua Tax and Consulting, Alain Brice Siassia (a Congolese citizen) and South African Gildas Bonaventure Mahouassa.

Ndlhovu resigned as a director of Louya Properties in July 2020.

In March 2016, Ndhlovu registered another company, Louya Electrical, which remains in business.

Daily Maverick sent a list of detailed questions to Ndhlovu in light of our own investigations into the sale of the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel.

We asked Ndlhovu how she was able to raise R8-million in cash as well as the estimated R60-million that went into the complete refurbishment considering tax consultants typically earn between R122k and R570k annually.

Ndhlovu, born in 1984, attended the PP Hlungwani High School in Limpopo before enrolling as a student at the Tshwane University of Technology and later the Guarantee Trust, a “provider of nationally registered tertiary qualifications, including National Certificates and Diplomas”.

She has only ever worked for Mahoua Tax and Accounting.

We also asked Ndhovu whether, as a tax consultant, she was aware of tax reporting regulations relating to the cash sale of such a large amount, and her relationships with Sicelo Xulu and former president Jacob Zuma.

In her response, Ndhlovu said she would not be addressing our detailed questions and that this should not be viewed as “as an admission thereof”.

She suggested that the first lady, in citing the hotel in her statement, had based her allegations on “rumours” that were “unfounded”.

“The establishment of Aloe Lifestyle Hotel brought vibrancy to the community of Eshowe and this has also brought competition to local businesses and forced them to be competitive and innovative,” she alleged.

Ndhlovu implied that it was disgruntled business owners in Eshowe who “have been paddling [sic] inaccurate information to affect our reputation”.

“We also suspect that these rumours have culminated in [the president’s wife] making ‘unfounded’ allegations pertaining to our establishment, as is contained in her court papers.”

As to the use of Hloni Motloung, former spokesperson for City Power, as spokesperson for the Aloe Hotel in response to a previous query by the Sunday Times, Ndhlovu responded that he was “a well-known Reputation Management Consultant”.

She said that the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel was a “well-respected establishment in Eshowe. It is operated with pride and aims to be a beacon of transformation & growth within the community.”

She denied “outright” that former president Jacob Zuma “is the true owner or beneficial owner of the hotel or that he has any interest in the hotel”.

She denied that Xulu had assisted with the “negotiation of the purchase of the business” but did admit that he did “on occasion, consult and advise our establishment based on his knowledge of the area”.

“In addition, he often visits his family and hometown in Eshowe and our hotel always welcomes him.”

She said she had been “involved in the development of this hotel from the onset” and had indeed attended the opening.

Ndhlovu blamed a “group of white-owned B&Bs in and around Eshowe” for a “campaign” being waged against her as a result of a loss of business.

She confirmed that the former president’s security detail “have opted to stay at our establishment” as opposed to other options in Eshowe.

She described criticism of the hotel as a “witch hunt” and accused one B&B owner of dispatching “two white males and a white female” to Aloe Lifestyle Hotel for purposes of a “surveillance” at the property.

She said it should be “placed on record that if false information is publicly reported about Aloe Lifestyle Hotel which seeks to cause harm to our establishment, we reserve all our rights to take necessary steps for loss of income, reputational damage or otherwise”.

In the 28 February 2020 issue of the Zululand Observer, a notice was placed advertising an auction due to take place on 10 March 2020 as a result of an execution order by the Durban High Court for the sale of almost all of the furniture in the Aloe Hotel in a matter brought by Voltex (Pty) Ltd T/A Waco Briardene, an electrical supply company.

Daily Maverick has approached Voltex to inquire as to the nature of the debt, the amount and who it was that settled it. Voltex had not responded at the time of writing.

Items up for sale included outdoor chairs, gym equipment, couches, 25 beds, 25 plasma televisions, computer monitors, dishwashing machines and pool loungers. However, Daily Maverick has learnt that the auction never took place.

Attorneys Shepstone & Wylie, which placed the advert for the auction, responded to Daily Maverick’s questions as to why it did not take place, saying that the “file is closed”.

“We have closed our file given that the debt owed by our client has since been settled.”

Detailed questions to Xulu had not been answered at time of writing. Daily Maverick asked Jacob Zuma’s legal representative Eric Mabuza to respond to the allegation that Zuma is the owner of the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel. We await the reply. DM168

FACT FILE

• Government business, including former President Jacob Zuma’s current security entourage, has been funnelled to the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel in Eshowe. Taxpayers ultimately foot this bill.
• The R135-million “security village” constructed at Nkandla and paid for by taxpayers has never been used to accommodate Zuma’s security. Taxpayers have footed the bill for the private accommodation of Zuma’s support staff throughout both of his terms as president.
• One of the former president’s former wives claims in a sworn affidavit that Zuma is the real owner of the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel and that a “third party” acts as a front.
• The registered owner of the hotel, a tax consultant from Johannesburg, Constance Khensani Ndlhovu, failed to address the question of how she came by R8-million to buy the CC which owned the hotel and how she managed to secure a further estimated R60-million for the total reconstruction.
• Sicelo Xulu, former CEO of City Power, who was previously accused of being central to the awarding of an inflated R1.2-billion tender to prominent KZN businessman Vivian Reddy, brokered the purchase of the hotel on behalf of Ndhlovu, who lives in Gauteng.

Who is Sicelo Xulu?

Sicelo Xulu hails from Nkanini near Eshowe. Prior to his appointment as CEO of City Power in 2012 Xulu joined Eskom in 1995, becoming a senior technologist.

In 2002 he joined City Power as Transmission Senior Engineer, working his way up to Managing Director and then CEO.

His LinkedIn Profile describes him as “a professional Engineering Technologist, registered with the ECSA and has over 20 years of engineering experience”.

Xulu has a B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Central University of Technology in the Free State, a BSc Honours from the University of Pretoria, and obtained his Masters of Philosophy (MPhil) in Electrical & Electronics Engineering (cum laude), with the University of Johannesburg,

He also completed an Accelerated Directorship Programme with the Institute of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA), and Executive Development Programme and Municipal Finance Management Programme with Wits Business School.

In 2015 he was voted by the Utility Week Industry Awards as African Utility Executive of the Year.

Xulu is currently CEO of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Writing in 2013, a year after Xulu’s appointment as CEO of City Power, Sam Sole, managing partner of the amaBhungane investigative unit, said Xulu had played a central role in the tender award for City Power’s installation of smart meters to ANC and Zuma benefactor Vivian Reddy’s Edison Power group. Xulu approved the bid specifications, chaired the adjudication committee and issued a letter of award to Reddy’s consortium.

Xulu has denied any close relationship to Jacob Zuma.

Who is Constance Khensani Ndhlovu?

Boksburg-based Constance Khensani Ndhlovu is the registered owner of the Aloe Lifestyle Hotel in Eshowe. She bought the CC which owned the concern for R8-million cash in 2015. Around R60-million was poured into the development completed in 2019. The CC was then converted into a Pty Ltd.

Ndhlovu is employed as a tax consultant with Johannesburg-based firm Mahoua Tax and Accounting, owned by Alain Brice Siassia (a Congolese citizen) and South African Gildas Bonaventure Mahouassa.

Born in 1984, she attended the PP Hlungwani High School in Limpopo before enrolling as a student at the Tshwane University of Technology and later the Guarantee Trust, a “provider of nationally registered tertiary qualifications, including National Certificates and Diplomas”. Prior to acquiring the Eshowe property, she has only ever worked for  Mahoua Tax and Accounting.

Two months after buying the Fleurdale B and B CC for R8-million, Ndlovu registered Louya Properties, along with her bosses at Mahoua Tax and Consulting.

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